


I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf 






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UN5TED STAfTE ,F AMERICA. 



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SKEPTICISM 



Divine Revelation ; 



AND CALL TO 



THE NEW JERUSALEM. 



"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever- 
lasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every 
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear 
God, and give glory to him ; for the hour of his judgment is come : and 
worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains 

of waters." 

[Rev. xiv. 17.] 

♦ 

The true hope of mankind in this day is not in looking back, — 
to Judaism, Roman Catholicism, or any of the forms of the fast, but 
forward and upward to the new jerusalem, which is now, in this 

NEW AGE, DESCENDING FROM GOD OUT OF HEAVEN. 



NEW YORK : 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR & COMPILER. 

1879. 



TO THE PROTESTANT CLERGY OF AMERICA 



Philadelphia, February, 1879. 
The undersigned would respectfully call attention to the fact that 
three of Emanuel Swedenborg's most important works are offered, 
free of cost, except for postage, to the Protestant Clergy of America, 
and Theological Students who are studying for the Ministry. 

Two of these books, "The True Christian Religion" and 
" The Apocalypse Revealed," are offered by Mr. L. C. Iungerich, 
of Philadelphia, and the third, " Heaven and its Wonders, and 
Hell," by "The American New Church Tract and Publica- 
tion Society," also of this city. Arrangements have been made 
for the distribution of these volumes through the large and well- 
known publishing house of J. B. Lippincott & Co., 715 and 717 
Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa., to whom all orders for the books 
must be sent, accompanied by the postage, as follows, viz. : 
Postage on "The T^ue Christian Religion/' - - 20 Cents. 
" "The Apocalypse Revealed," - - - 18 " 
" "Heaven and its Wonders, and Hell," 13 " 

It is because the donors of these books believe that there will be 
found in them a clear solution of all the difficult points of doctrine 
that disturb, perplex and separate Christians from each other, keep- 
ing so many honest and sincere people out of the churches, and 
strengthening infidel sentiments, that they are so desirous of placing 
them in the hands of clergymen, whose office it is to teach spiritual 
truths and lead souls heavenward. 

If you have never given the writings of Swedenborg a careful 
examination, we would most earnestly and respectfully ask you to 
avail yourself of the opportunity now offered for so doing. You 
will find his statements of doctrine clear, comprehensive and 
rational, and always based on the Word of God. There are no 
appeals to passion or prejudice in any part of his works, but every- 
where he addresses himself to man's reason, without the assent of 
which no truth can possibly be received into the mind. 

It is now about six years since the offer of Swedenborg's works 
was first made to the clergy of America, and already over seventeen 
thousand copies of " i he True Christian Religion," fifteen thousand 
copies of "Heaven and Hell," and eleven thousand copies of "The 
Apocalypse Revealed " have been asked for, and sent. 

During the six years in which the distribution of these works has 
been going on, a large number of letters have been received from 
clergymen of all denominations who have received and read them, 
and many have expressed in the strongest terms their great indebted- 
ness for the spiritual light and comfort received through the perusal 
of these wonderful writings. 



ii 

skepticism; 
Divine Revelation; 

AND CALL TO 

THE NEW JERUSALEM. 






"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever- 
lasting gospel to preach unto them, that dwell on the earth, and to every 
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear 
God, and give glory to him ; for the hour of his judgment is come : and 
worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains 

of waters." 

[Rev. xiv. 17.] 

. 

The true hope of mankind in this day is not in looking back, — 
to Judaism, Roman Catholicism, or any of the forms of the past, but 

FORWARD AND UPWARD TO THE Ne\V JERUSALEM, WHICH IS NOW, IN THIS 
NEW AGE, DESCENDING FROM GOD OUT OF HEAVEN. 




NEW YORK : 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR & COMPILER. 

1879. 



i>iief^ce: 



I 3 Tf 



IT has been our aim in writing and compiling this work to show, 
in the light of revelation, to human reason — 

1st. That there is a known personal God, who has revealed Him- 
self to us as a Divine Man in His Word ; and also in man and in the 
works of creation which surround us, when the latter are viewed 
in the light of revelation. 

2d. That the material universe and man have been created from 
the spiritual world, and that all material objects and forms are but 
manifestations of affections and thoughts primarily from (rod, even 
if secondarily from man, either as a true or perverted image of God, 
As all of man's words and works spring from, or are caused by, 
his affections and thoughts, which are spiritual, the former neces- 
sarily correspond to the latter, as an effect does to its cause. So all 
of God's words and works must spring from, or be caused by, His 
affections and thoughts, and the latter must necessarily corres- 
pond to the former, as effects do to their causes ; therefore, as God's 
works are infilled with life, and in this respect differ totally from 
the works of man, so if He has given us a Word, containing spirit- 
ual knowledge, it must differ from the words of man by being full 
of spirit and life, like His works. 

3d. That the Sacred Scriptures are written according to this 
science of correspondences between natural and spiritual things ; 
consequently God's Word and His works can never conflict, what- 
ever the appearance. 

4th, That the Lord at this day has revealed to us the correspond- 
ences in accordance with which the Sacred Scriptures were written, 
and by which they must be interpreted, if man is to be able to see 
and know the interpretation to be true, as he knows any of the in- 
terpretations of the natural sciences to be true. By the aid of this 
newly revealed science, we find that the Sacred Scriptures have a 
connected spiritual sense which is never contradictory. 

5th. That this revelation of the spiritual sense of the Divine 
Word, and True Doctrines, is the fulfillment of the prophecies in 
regard to the Lord's Second Coming. 

Our chief object has been to call the attention of the reader to the 
revelations made by the Lord for the benefit of this new, this crown- 
ing and endless age which is dawning upon us. 

JOHN ELLIS, M. D., 

Author of " The Avoidable Causes of Diseases^ Insanity and Deformity.'" 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION PAGE 

L A Personal God 1 

II. Special Revelation from a Personal God 3 

III. Have we any Special Revelations from a Personal 

God? 5 

, IV. The First Chapters of Genesis 21 

V. Genesis, Chapter First, and Creation 26 

VI. Brief Exposition of the Internal Sense of the First 

Chapter of Genesis . . 29 

VII. The Creation of Man and Woman (as described in the 
First Chapter of Genesis, and as described in the 

Second). 37 

VIII. Eve 45 

IX. The Garden of Eden— Its Trees and River 47 

X. The Fall of Man — The Serpent and Curse Introduced 

into the World 53 

XI. Cain and Abel 61 

XII. The Flood— General .Remarks 65 

XIII Noah 69 

XIV. Shem, Ham, and Japheth 71 

XV. The Flood of Waters 74 

XVI. TheArk 81 

XVII. The Tower of Babel 88 

XVIII. Sun Worship and Idolatry— Their Origin 94 

XIX. Spiritualism 105 

XX. Mediate Revelation by the Word, or Immediate by 

Spirits— Which is Preferable ? 116 



IV CONTENTS, 



PAGE 



SECTION 

XXI. An Appeal to Spiritualists in behalf of the Writings 

of Emanuel Swedenborg 123 

XXII. Doctrines of the New Jerusalem 129 

XXIII. The Incarnation— -Was there any Violation of the 

Laws of Nature?— Why the Lord came to this 
Earth?— "What became of the Universe, during 
His Incarnation ? " 133 

XXIV. The Divine Trinity, and the Trinity in Man 153 

XXV. Sacrificial Worship— Its True Significance 170 

XXVI. The Cross 180 

XXVII. A True and Heavenly Life 184 

XXVIH. The End of the World, and the Second Coming of the 

Lord 191 

XXIX. The Resurrection— When It Occurs 202 

XXX. The State of Infants in the Other Life 218 

XXXI. On the State of the Heathen and Gentiles in Another 

Life 221 

XXXII. The New Jerusalem— The Church of the Future— 

The Crown of all Churches 229 

XXXIII. The Divine Promise to those who receive the New 

Jerusalem at the Second Coming of the Lord ..... 247 

XXXIV. Emanuel Swedenborg, the Seer 257 



SKEPTICISM, DIVINE REYELAT10N, 



AND 



CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 



A Personal God. 



THAT there is a personal God, or Creator, it would 
seem must be manifest to every enlightened and 
thoughtful individual who has ever had the idea of 
such a being properly and truly presented to him, and who 
observes and reflects upon the works of creation. In all 
created things, in the animal, vegetable and mineral king- 
doms, he sees evidences of design, of careful thought, and 
the most wonderful adaptation of individual parts, and 
their uses to whole structures. There is nothing in the 
works of man which will compare in this respect with the 
works of creation, which we behold around us on every 
hand, from the smallest atom, vegetable and insect, to the 
vast suns and their surrounding planets. If we were to 
find a beautiful piece of man-made machinery which we 
had never seen before, what would be our first thought ? 
Would it be that it had either come by chance, or was the 
work of the general mind of men, or would it not be that 
it was the work of some individual or personal man or 
men. Do we ever find anything of human production, 
manifesting thought and design, which has not been made 
by some individual or personal man or men? How 
unreasonable then to think for a moment that the beauti- 
ful forms and structures, filled with life, around us, mani- 
festing in an infinite degree thought and design, are not 
the works of a personal being or Creator. Geology shows 
that they did not always exist. 



2 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

If there is a personal Creator, it is evident that he must 
have had some object, design, or end in view, in creating 
the universe, worthy of such a being. Unaided by revela- 
tion from our Creator, we might have wandered in dark- 
ness and never have been able to see or comprehend the 
reason why the universe was created, for a goodly number 
of our scientific men of this day, who ignore Divine Reve- 
lation, have manifested to us how utterly impossible it is 
for men, engrossed in scientific investigations and pur- 
suits, unaided by revelation, to comprehend or even 
perceive spiritual truths, or the spiritual side of creation 
and of man's nature. 

But the sacred Scriptures intimate to us, and the reve- 
lations made by the Lord for the benefit of this perverted 
and skeptical age, through Emanuel Swedenborg, teach 
us that the object of the material creation and universe 
was that man might be created in the image and likeness 
of his Creator, capable of loving, reverencing, and serving 
Him and his fellow or neighbor ; and that from man an 
angelic heaven of intelligent, rational, and happy beings 
might be created, who should forever reverence, recipro- 
cate His love, and serve, by doing good to each other, and 
worship Him, not for His own sake or glory, but for their 
own good, that they might realize that they individually 
are but recipients of life, all brethren — God the giver of all 
life, all truth, and of all goodness. Can we imagine a 
more worthy object for the creation of the universe than 
this ? 

If, then, we are prepared to admit that this wonderful 
universe lias been created by an intelligent Personal Being 
for the sake of making man in his own image, capable of 
becoming by the proper use of the freedom of will with 
which he is endowed, intelligent, wise and happy, can we 
for a moment suppose that such a Creator, after endowing 
man with rationality, conscience, and freedom of will, 
capable of the most terrible perversions and suite ring, 
could by any possibility, if he is a wise and loving Father, 



SPECIAL REVELATIONS FROM A PERSONAL GOD. 3 

as all His works manifest, leave man without any more 
special manifestation of His will, than he can gather from 
the dim light of nature— without any direct positive in- 
struction as to his destiny, or on whom he is dependent 
for his existence, or how he should conduct himself so as 
to reach the highest state of intelligence, goodness and 
happiness ? Would an earthly parent thus leave the child 
he loves, to grope in darkness ? And if he would not, 
how can we attribute such an unnatural course to our 
Heavenly Father? It would seem, then, if there is a 
personal God, as enlightened reason plainly assures us, 
and he is our Creator, an intelligent and loving Father, 
that He should have given to his children some knowledge 
of Himself and some manifestation of His will, some rules 
of life to guide them here and to heaven hereafter. Would 
it seem unreasonable that a Father, who in his great love 
has created this vast and wonderful universe for man, that 
he might be the recipient of His love, should personally 
manifest Himself to His creatures whom he has created 
and endowed with rationality, freedom and conscience ? 
The yearning heart of every earthly parent and of every 
child of an earthly parent answers No. That He should 
not only manifest himself in a personal form to the chil- 
dren whom he has created, that they may have an object 
for reverence and worship, and not bow down to an im- 
personal or unknown God, but also give them, as He may 
see they need, line upon line and precept upon precept of 
useful instruction, seems evident. Has He done it ? and 
first as to special revelations. 



II. 

Special Revelations from a Personal G-od. 

Y special revelations from the Lord are meant reve- 
> lations either to or through individual men or 
women. The first thought which occurs is, ? why should our 
Creator, if He is impartial, good, and merciful, reveal truth 



B 



4 CALL TO THE KEW JERUSALEM. 

to one man, or apparently favor him more than others, in 
this respect ? " There are many reasons for His selecting 
individual men for such a mission, either one of which 
would seem satisfactory. Revelations are not made simply 
for the benefit of the individual, hut that the truths may 
be taught to others, and handed down to posterity either 
by tradition or in a written form; and, to say the least, 
it is often doubtful whether the revelator is specially 
favored at all or not A man to be benefited by truth 
must receive it in freedom, and not only receive it into his 
understanding, but he must also live according to it, and 
thus weave it into the very fibres of his spiritual organiza- 
tion, or it will do him no good. If he fails to shape his 
life, or walk according to the truth, he will profane it; or, 
in other words, by the light which he has received he will 
be enabled to sink himself deeper into evil and consequent 
suffering. If direct revelations were made to all men, 
irrespective of their state, it is certain that many might be 
compelled, as it were, to believe who have no desire to live 
a good and true life, and therefore would be very seriously 
injured by such revelations ; but when the truth is taught 
to them by their fellow-men, or handed down by tradition, 
or in a written form, it comes with less authority, and does 
not interfere with their freedom or compel them to believe, 
and they can receive or reject it, according to the state of 
their affections ; — having eyes they can -see not, having ears 
they may hear not — not receiving the truth they do not 
profane it, and consequently it does them comparatively 
little harm. The "flaming sword" of self-love is placed at 
the east of the garden, in the mind of the evil man, to pro- 
tect the truth from profanation ; fortunately, it is rarely 
sheathed except by repentance, faith in the Lord, and a 
sincere effort to lead a good life. Consequently, as a gen- 
eral rule, an evil man cannot see genuine spiritual truths, 
which is very fortunate for him. Here then would seem 
to be a very satisfactory reason why the Lord does not 
directly reveal truth to all men. Then, all men are not in 



HAVE WE AtfY SPECIAL REVELATIONS? 5 

a proper state, but our Creator seeing the hearts and 
capacity of all can select the best, or the one least likely to 
be injured by the truth to be revealed. If it is simply to 
write the words dictated by Him, it would seem possible 
that the man chosen need not necessarily be a good man, 
but one protected by the flaming sword of self-love from 
seeing the truth revealed in its true light, and thus from 
being injured by it; and the love of glory or fame might 
lead such a man to proclaim the truth with zeal, and 
others be benefited thereby, and himself not injured. 

Ill- 
Have we any Special Revelations from a Per- 
sonal God? 

THIS is a practical question, and one which no sensible 
man will hastily decide in the negative. The cer- 
tainty of there being a personal Creator, and the equal 
certainty, if there is such a being, of whom man when 
regenerated is the image and likeness, that He would reveal 
to mankind such truths as are essential to be lived by us, 
that we may be happy here and hereafter, have been con- 
sidered already. It becomes then, every man who is skep- 
tically inclined, with due reverence and humility, to look 
for such a revelation, or such revelations ; and, as far as 
possible, not to look with a combative or negative spirit, 
for such a spirit is of necessity almost, if not quite, a bar 
to the truth being seen. You attempt to show a man a 
house — yes, a beautiful house for human habitation — he, 
unfortunately, is naturally, as most men are spiritually, a 
little near-sighted; and instead of waiting until he has 
seen the entire house and can form a general idea of it, as 
you approach the gate or the outer door he begins to cavil 
and deny that that door is a house, or any part of a house, 
as it does not swing in the direction or manner the door to 
his house has always swung; or his house has no outer 
door. You call his attention to a beautiful window, 



b CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

Gothic perhaps in form ; but this is not like the window 
in his house, it is obstructed with glass, which to you has 
a use, but without waiting to understand this use, he 
decides at once it is no part of a house, or at least of a 
suitable house for him to live in; and so you go on 
throughout your entire house, showing him all parts of it, 
its halls, its rooms, its furniture, etc., and he denying and 
combating at every step. Can you convince such a man? 
Never ! In our Father's house are many beautiful man- 
sions, but from a negative and combative state a man can 
never see or reside in one of them. We must come like 
little children, in a teachable spirit, not to believe blindly 
everything which is told us, or which we read, but to use 
the reason with which God has endowed us, to judge after 
a fair survey between truth and error. If we come in 
such a spirit, and shape our lives according to the truth, 
the Lord will lead us into one of His many beautiful man- 
sions. 

As it will be our aim not to write this treatise from a 
negative spirit, but from an affirmative state, we will here 
make a general statement, and afterwards consider it more 
fully in detail. Not that we expect in the short space we 
have allotted to ourselves to set before the reader evidence 
enough to satisfy all, but we do hope to call the attention 
of many an earnest enquirer to a serious examination of 
the writings which have, after a patient and careful ex- 
amination, so fully and happily satisfied us, and increasing 
thousands of intelligent men and women. 

Although born and educated in a Christian country, and 
accustomed to read the Bible from childhood, and to sit 
under the ministrations of religious teachers, not a few, 
owing to the apparent conflict which seems to exist be- 
tween the Word of God in its letter and His works, which 
has been so clearly developed by the scientific researches 
of this day, have been led to doubt, and some unfortu- 
nately openly to deny, that the sacred Scriptures are either 
revelations from God, or entitled to any more respect than 



HAVE WE ANY SPECIAL REVELATIONS ? 7 

the acknowledged writings of men. It is not to be sup- 
posed for a moment, by any liberal-minded man, that all 
such doubters are either dishonest or that they do not 
desire the truth ; the young, especially in the flush of scien- 
tific investigations, are liable to be led into such doubts, 
and it is but too evident that religious teachers, by the 
light afforded by the letter of the Bible alone, have not 
been able to either shield them or deliver them from such 
doubts. But the Lord does not leave Himself without a 
witness ; consequently in the Gospels and Book of Eeve- 
lations He promises a second coming in the clouds of 
Heaven — not the clouds of earth, please bear in mind. 
When on earth, our Saviour declared that He had many 
things to tell men, but mankind then were not in a state 
to receive them. As a kind parent does to his child, so 
our Heavenly Father adapts His instruction, or revela- 
tions, to the capacity and needs of His children. At an 
age when the earth seemed to men, and was believed to be 
the centre of the universe, and the sun, moon and stars 
were supposed to make a journey around it daily, the 
Lord was supposed to be angry, revengeful, even hating 
some of the creatures He had made. Such was the lan- 
guage of God's works and of His Word to the untutored 
men of those dark ages — the one in strict harmony with 
the other. But the enlightened science of this day shows 
that the supposed motion of the sun, moon and stars was 
only an apparent truth — not a real truth, the real truth 
being that day and night are caused by the motion of the 
earth — when it turns from the sun it is night. So a 
spiritual revelation in keeping with the natural science of 
to-day, must show that the supposed anger, revengefulness 
and hatred attributed to God, are but apparent truths, 
adapted to the state of mankind when given ; and men 
were permitted to dwell in such apparent truths for the 
sake of being restrained by their fears, and because they 
were not capable of comprehending or being benefited by 
real truths. The real truth being, that God is never 



8 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

angry, never hates and is never revengeful, but He is love 
and unchangeable, the same yesterday, to-day and forever. 
His tender mercies are around all His creatures; but 
when man turns from the Lord to himself, and seeks 
selfish ends, instead of regarding the rights of others, and 
perverts his God-given passions and appetites to purely 
sensual and selfish gratification irrespective of their legiti- 
mate use, making their gratification the chief object of his 
life, thus turning from the Lord to self, mental darkness 
overshadows him; and when he begins to suffer the legiti- 
mate consequences, or, if you please, punishments which 
necessarily follow from the violation of the spiritual and 
physical laws of his being, which the Lord has ordained 
for his good, it seems to him that God is angry with him 
and hates him ; and who will not say that it is well that 
he has been permitted to remain in this apparent truth. 

But the men of this day are rapidly outgrowing the 
state in which they can be restrained by the apparent 
truths of God's Word, for they are fast losing their belief 
in and reverence for a personal God and all revelations from 
such a being. Even the fears of a literal hell are being 
shaken off, and men no longer tremble before the ana- 
themas of the most venerable churches, or the denunciation 
of their clergymen. 

Look around, reader, upon the confusion in the religious 
world, the manifestations of sectarianism, the love of rule 
in spiritual things, the growing skepticism, the Lo here and 
Lo there, and tell us if it is not time for us to be looking 
for the sign of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, 
and for the new order of things which he has promised us 
in His "Word, when He declared, "Behold I make all 
things new." Look at the wonderful strides being made 
in the mechanical arts and in the sciences, and remember 
the order of creation and regeneration is, first that which 
is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual. This is 
the true order with the individual man, and it is true 
with the race, 



HAVE WE ANY SPECIAL KEVELATIOITS ? 9 

Emanuel Swedenborg, the son of a Bishop of the Church 
of Sweden, who lived over a century ago, was thoroughly 
educated and trained in tfre sciences of his day, and de- 
voted his life until he was over 50 years of age to scien- 
tific and mechanical pursuits, when, he assures us in his 
writings, he was called by the Lord from his scientific 
labors to the important mission of revealing to the 
world for the benefit of all Christians and others, the 
truths of a New Dispensation, or of the Second Coming of 
the Lord. He assures us that his spiritual sight was 
opened, as it was with the prophets, St. Paul and John 
the revelator; that he wa3 permitted to see the inhabitants 
of the spiritual world, including those of heaven and hell, 
and to describe them and their condition, and to show the 
relation which the acts and deeds of this life have upon 
the future life; and he wrote a work entitled, "Heaven, 
the World of Spirits and Hell; from things seen and 
heard;" full of the most useful and practical instruction. 
Interspersed throughout his other works are relations of 
what he claims to have seen and heard in the spiritual 
world. He shows conclusively that the spiritual world is 
the world of causes, the real, the living world, and the 
natural world the world of effects: from this it follows 
that there is a strict correspondence between every object 
in this world and its cause in the spiritual world. 

As is truly said by the Rev. George Field, in his work 
entitled "The Two Great Books of Xature and Revela- 
tion," which work will richly repay both the theological 
and scientific student for a careful perusal, and from 
which we shall not unfrequently quote in the following 
pages : 

u The natural universe is therefore but an outer form of 
the Divine mind ; and all its multitudinous contents are 
but so many .symbols of the varied truths and affections 
existing in the world of mind. Thus the creation is, as it 
were, the alphabet of the Creator; and it is by its types 
that the Creator speaketh! Or, as the apostle wrote, 'The 



10 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

invisible things of Him [God] from the creation of the 
world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things 
that are made' (Rom. i. 20). A doctrine as old as the 
world, and taught by Hermes Trismegistus (the Egyptian 
Thoth, some 2000 years before it was thus reiterated by 
Paul. His words in English are, 'All things that are in 
heaven, are in the earth in an earthly form ; and all things 
that are in the earth, are in heaven in a heavenly form* 
Which sentiment is thus transferred to poetry by Milton : 

' What if earth 
Be but the shadow of heaven : and things therein 
Each to other like, more than on earth is thought.' 

"How immense — how wonderful is the idea that the 
works of the Creator should be the signs for the words of 
His revelation ! and that the one is to the other as the 
soul is to the body, and the mystic chain which binds 
them is correspondence, or the relation which exists by cre- 
ation between spiritual and natural things. 

"'To the most ancient people/ says Mr. Kirby, < the cre- 
ation was a Book of Symbols, a sacred language of which 
they possessed the key, and which it was their delight to 
study and decipher/ {Introduction to Entomology.) Cor- 
respondence is the necessary relation subsisting between 
things spiritual and things natural, or between thoughts 
and their outward images : thus, not as might be inferred, 
that one natural thing corresponds to another natural 
thing, as this would be merely arbitrary or speculative, for 
though one may illustrate the other, it does not correspond 
to it, or have any necessary relation to it. Actions corres- 
pond to feelings: words correspond to thoughts: sounds 
or intonations correspond to the quality of the affection, 
because they actually produce them. So every object in 
nature corresponds first to its prototype in the Divine 
mind, and secondarily to its antitype in the human mind, 
by as fixed and immutable a law as that effects are pro- 
duced by causes.' " 



HAVE WE ANY SPECIAL REVELATIONS? 11 

In a work by the late Prof. Agassiz on Lake Superior, 
he says : " There will be no scientific evidence of God's 
workinsr in nature, until naturalists have shown that the 
whole creation is the expression of a thought, aud not the 
product of physical agents ; " and he adds, * Let the natu- 
ralists look at the world under such impressions, and 
evidence will pour in upon us, that ail creatures are ex- 
pressions of the thoughts of Him whom we know, love, 
and adore unseen." 

That Man is not only the final end of Creation, but that 
God, the Creator, must have been the Infinite Divine Pat- 
tern — the self-existent Divinely Human Fountain, is also 
thus forcibly presented by Agassiz: "Man (he says), is the 
end to which all the animal creation has tended from the 
first appearance of the first Palaeozoic fishes." But, says 
Hugh Miller, "Xo longer, however, the natural, but the 
Diyixe Max — occupying what is at once its terminal 
point, and its highest apex." — Testimony of the Rocks, pp. 
229, 235. 

In the late Mr. Bancroft's speech before the New York 
Historical Society he says : " The comparative anatomist 
has shown that all created vertebrae, without exception, 
are analogous, so that the induction becomes irresistible 
that an arclietype existed previous to the creation, of the 
first of the hind. Shall we then hesitate to believe that 
the system of law likewise pervades the moral world ? TVe 
cannot shut our eyes to the established fact that an ideal, 
or archetype, prescribed the form, of animal life ; and shall 
we not believe that the type of all intellectual life, likewise, 
exists in the Divine Mind ? " 

According to this science of correspondences — which 
Swedenborg has shown is the science of all sciences — the 
sacred Scriptures were written, consequently they can only 
be correctly interpreted in accordance with this universal 
science. A correct interpretation therefore cannot be 
arbitrary, but it must be in accordance with rules and 
laws, and can never conflict with natural science, nor can 



12 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

one portion of the Word of God, when correctly inter- 
preted, ever conflict with another portion. He has shown, 
consequently, that the Word of Grod, like His works, is 
filled with life, and differs as much from the writings of 
men as His works do from the works of men. The sacred 
Scriptures then have not only a literal sense, hut also a 
connected spiritual sense running throughout, and within, 
as the soul is within the hody. 

The Lord intimates in many passages that the sacred 
Scriptures, or His words, contain a spiritual sense, as in 
the following : " It is the spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh 
profiteth nothing ; the words that I speak unto you, they 
are spirit and they are life." " The letter killeth, but the 
spirit giveth life." 

"The Lord," says the Rev. John Hyde, "spoke in 
parables to the Jews; and further it is declared that, 
' Without a partible spake He not to them' (Matt. xiii. 34). 
All that the Lord uttered was a parable; and was a para- 
ble because it possessed an inner meaning recognizable by 
the instructed, but veiled from the unbelieving. That He 
adopted this method, even with His disciples, is evident 
from many passages. * If thine eye offend thee, pluck it 
out. If thy hand offend thee, cut it off/ ' Except ye eat 
the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have 
no life in you.' e He that hath no sword, let him sell his 
coat and buy one.' There was a Divine signification in 
His words, because He was Divine who uttered them. 
The words were but the outer covering of the Divine 
meaning, just as His flesh was but the outer covering of 
the Divine man. It was this inner ' spirit and life' thai 
profited them, and that will profit us to know. In this 
inner or higher sense, all the Scriptures testified of Him. 
' The spirit of prophecy was the testimony of Jesus/ 

" Paul, in like manner, interprets the Sacred Word. To 
him, the ' Jews after the flesh' were but types of ' the Jews 
after the Spirit;' f circumcision after the flesh' the 
symbol of ' circumcision of the heart.' He asserts that 



HAVE WE ANY SPECIAL REVELATIONS? 13 

the rock from which the Israelites drank was the figure of 
the ' spiritual rock, which is Christ ;' the tabernacle and 
its ceremonies, the holy of holies and its yearly entrance, 
were but ' symbols of the true;' that Jerusalem below was 
the type of ' Jerusalem that is above, the mother of us all ;' 
that the earthly Zion was but the figure of ' the Mount 
Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem/ 
to which all the disciples of Christ had come ; that Abra- 
ham and his two sons were 'an allegory;' that Melchisedec 
was a type of Christ, as also were the high priests. 

"The whole of the Hebrews is but an exposition of 
typical or symbolic interpretation, and it abounds in con- 
firmations of the statement of David, that the history of 
the Israelites was ' a parable. ' Into the sublime halls of 
such spiritual interpretation he conducts us, and justifies 
our belief in an everywhere-present spiritual sense, by 
many a glimpse of its presence, where else it had lain con- 
cealed. He teaches us as he taught his disciple Timothy, 
that ' all Scripture is God-breathed (given by inspiration 
of God), and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the man 
of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works' 
(2 Tim. iii. 16, 17) ; given by God to every man, that 
every man may thus become perfect ; of universal impor- 
tance because of universal application. Every word of it, 
consequently, treating of spiritual things, eternal in its 
interests, and to be spiritually understood." 

The early Christian Fathers, "Clemens of Alexandria, 
and Origen, understood that the sacred Scriptures have a 
spiritual sense ; and Origen, when the shrewd enemy of 
Christianity, Celsus, ridiculed the stories of the rib, the 
serpent, etc., as childish fables, reproaches him for want 
of candor in purposely keeping out of sight, what was so 
evident upon the face of the narrative, that the whole is 
a pure allegory. Indeed so universal was this sentiment, 
that De la Bigue in his BiUiotheca Patrum, after quoting 
a number of testimonies to this effect, says: 'For these 



14 CALL TO THE NEW JEEUSALEM. 

reasons the interpreters whom we have mentioned, under- 
standing all that is said of Paradise in a spiritual manner, 
affirmed that divers heresies had arisen, because certain 
persons had understood what is said of God and Paradise 
after a carnal manner/ So that it is certain that, in the 
primitive days, the heretics were those who interpreted 
this part of Scripture according to the letter" — Noble's 
Plenary Inspiration. 

Aside from the relation of what he saw and heard in 
the spiritual world, Swedenborg assures us that he received 
from the Lord, while reading His Word, the true inter- 
pretation of the sacred Scriptures, in accordance with the 
science of correspondences, and also the true Christian 
doctrines — which had become during the dark ages seri- 
ously perverted by the evil inclinations, the conflicting 
opinions and doctrines of men, which had too frequently 
made the Word of God of none effect. He claims that 
without Divine aid he could never have discovered the 
science of correspondences, the true and rational interpre- 
tation of the Word in accordance therewith, and the true 
Christian doctrines, and he most solemnly assures us that 
he received nothing of all he has revealed to us upon these 
subjects from any spirit or angel even, but from the Lord 
alone while reading His Word. 

Swedenborg also shows us that the Lord has never left 
any nation or people without some knowledge of Himself 
and of His will — enough, if they will but hearken and 
obey, to lead to some of the innumerable mansions in His 
heavenly kingdom. 

Swedenborg says : "That religion has existed from the 
most ancient times, and that the inhabitants of the globe 
everywhere know of God with something about the life 
after death, has not been from themselves and from their 
own acuteness, but from the ancient Word mentioned 
above, and afterwards from the Israeli tish Word. * * * 
It is well known that they had a knowledge of Paradise, 
of the flood ; of the sacred fire, and of the four ages — from 



HAVE WE ANY SPECIAL REVELATIONS ? 15 

the first or golden age to the last or iron age — by which 
the four states of the church are signified in the Word, as 
in Daniel ii. 35. It is also known that the Mahometan 
religion which succeeded and destroyed the previous re- 
ligions of many nations, was taken from the Word of both 
Testaments." " They who do not believe the Word from 
the Word, can neither believe anything divine from nature ; 
for the Lord teaches, they have Moses and the prophets, 
let them hear them ; if they do not hear Moses and the 
prophets, neither will they be persuaded if any of the dead 
were to rise (Luke xvi. 29, 31). It is the same if any one, 
rejecting the Word, will believe from nature alone what 
certain of the ancients, who were Pagans, have written, 
such as Aristotle, Cicero, and others, concerning the exist- 
ence of God and the immortality of the soul ; this they 
did not first know from their own natural light, but from 
the religion of the ancients, among whom there had been 
a divine revelation, which was successively propagated to 
the heathens.'' 

To the people of the most ancient or the Adamic age 
He gave open vision and direct revelations, and they 
understood the correspondence between spiritual and 
natural things ; and a knowledge of correspondences and 
essential spiritual truths, after men began to sink volun- 
tarily into evil, and open vision ceased, were handed down 
by tradition among all nations; and from this source have 
originated Mythology, Idolatry, Masonry and sacrifices as 
the latter have existed among Gentile nations. Objects and 
images once used to remind men of spiritual truths, the 
spiritual signification of the objects and images being 
gradually lost, men came at length to worship the natural 
object or image, or to use the same in sacrifices. In a 
more or less perverted form the Ten Commandments have 
been handed down by tradition among many nations 
previous to their ever seeing the written word, and some 
knowledge of spiritual subjects among all nations. When 
our missionaries come to perceive the fact and act accord- 



* 6 CALL TO THE KEW JERUSALEM. 

ingly, that heathen nations are not all heathen after all, 
and come to recognize the truth and good there is already 
among them, they will be more successful in converting 
them to Christianity. 

Through Moses and the Prophets, the Evangelists and 
St. John, were given special revelations in a written form, 
adapted to the times and wants of the men for whose ben- 
efit they were given, all written according to the corres- 
pondence between spiritual and natural things; every 
object, image, and word used representing spiritual ideas, 
perceptions, affections, and thoughts. Swedenborg claims 
to have given, or more strictly speaking, that the Lord 
gave through him, the key for unlocking all these various 
books written by different men in different ages, and to 
demonstrate to man's rational perceptions that God was in 
very deed their author, and from the vast store-house of 
God's Word he brings forth things new and old for the 
benefit of the men of this age. Has he accomplished all 
this ? If he has, the Lord has indeed been mindful of and 
merciful to the men of this age. Swedenborg asked no 
man to receive the truth on his say so, in fact he expressly 
teaches that no one can really receive the truth into his 
life any further than he perceives it to be true, and if not 
brought into life it is of no use, and soon vanishes from 
his mental vision, even if he hears it. With him there is 
no salvation by truth or faith alone, for all genuine re- 
ligion has relation to life, and the life of religion is to do 
good. But the Eev. J. C. Agar says truly and justly, 

"The real proof of the existence of anything is to see 
the thing itself. As soon as we begin to see the spiritual 
sense which is reflected in the letter, and to see the bound- 
less vista of truth which it opens, and especially when we 
begin to feel the searching and discriminating power of 
this higher truth, penetrating to the most hidden motives 
and springs of action, we need no argument to convince 
us that there is such a sense in the Bible, and that the 
Bible is Divine and Infinite by virtue of that sense. 



HAVE WE AXY SPECIAL KEYELATIOXS ? 17 

" Whether there be such a sense, therefore, is mainly a 
question of fact. You cannot tell whether it is there or 
not until you look for it. 

"The system of interpretation by which this higher 
sense is unfolded is set forth in the writings of Emanuel 
Swedenborg. It is not an arbitrary system, but is based 
upon the relation which everywhere exists between the 
spiritual and the natural ; in other words, it is based upon 
an ontological law, or a law of being. What this law is, 
and how it is manifested in all nature and in all languages, 
cannot be explained in a brief space. The fundamental 
idea of it is this : that as the body not only clothes but 
reveals the soul, so does the material or natural universally 
both clothe and reveal the spiritual. The body reveals the 
soul because it in every way corresponds to it — is the type 
of it. This is true not only of its form, but of its consti- 
tution and the laws by which it is governed. As soon as 
the relation between the spiritual and the physical is 
clearly discerned, the study of the body becomes the most 
fruitful source of information respecting the soul. 

" And this correspondence between the spiritual and the 
natural is universal. The natural is the outcome of the 
spiritual, and therefore reveals it, when the language in 
which it speaks is understood. That is, the natural cor- 
responds to the spiritual, and to the extent that this cor- 
respondence is perceived does the spiritual become manifest 
in and through the natural. 

" The various bearings and applications of this law or 
relation are thoroughly discussed and clearly explained by 
Swedenborg. He shows that this is the law of Divine 
revelation alike in the works of God and in the Word of 
God. 

" Every natural object is the form and embodiment of 
some spiritual idea or principle ; and, therefore, it is the 
most perfect expression or type or picture of that idea. 
This higher significance of nature man has always seen 
dimly and partially ; and the recognition of this corres- 



18 CALL TO THE KEW JERUSALEM. 

pondence forms the basis of all poetry. But the Lord sees 
this higher side of nature in all its infinite fulness ; hence 
in Divine language this correspondence finds full and per- 
fect expression. And it is in accordance with this law that 
the Divine Truth finds its ultimation, in human language, 
in the Divine Word. 

" When we apply this principle of interpretation to the 
Bible we find how completely it removes all the difficulties 
which have been the occasion of so much doubt and skep- 
ticism. 

'* Take the first chapter of Genesis, for instance, which 
\ne theologians have tried in vain to reconcile with the 
conclusions of modern science. When interpreted by this 
V,w, it is seen to be, not an erroneous or imperfect account 
of the creation of the natural world, but a typical descrip- 
tion of man's spiritual creation, that is, of his spiritual 
development from the state of spiritual or mental chaos to 
ib3 paradise or heavenly state. And the instruction it 
rjntains applies equally to the regeneration or develop- 
ment of the race, and to the regeneration of tta indi- 
vidual. 

" So the description of Eden is seen to be, not the de- 
scription of some place on the earth's surface, all traces of 
fthich have been lost, but a picture of the heavenly state 
*4 mind to which we may all aspire. Hence it is full of 
nstruction for all who would reach that state. 

"So, again, the account of the 'fall' is a picture of what 
)ccurs to every man who rejects Divine guidance, and 
accepts in place thereof sensuous knowledge, which is the 
'serpent.' This sensuous or materialistic spirit is just as 
active to-day as it was when mankind was in the Eden 
state, and the world is full of the victims of its seductions. 
And when our eyes are opened to the spiritual lessons of 
the third chapter of Genesis, we find it full of warning and 
instruction in respect to the present state of the world. 

"Most Christian scholars agree that true history, in the 
Scriptures, begins with Abraham, and that the preceding 



HAVE WE ANY SPECIAL REVELATIONS? 19 

chapters are compiled from ancient documents. This 
Swedenborg declared more than one hundred years ago, 
showing this first part of Genesis to be pure parable, with- 
out literal historical sense, but depicting in typical lan- 
guage the early spiritual history of the race, its develop- 
ment from the chaos or animal state, and the mental 
experiences which led to its spiritual decline. The num- 
bers mentioned in these chapters are also symbolical; 
hence we have no chronology of this period. 

" It will be seen, not only that this recognition of a 
spiritual sense in the Divine Word opens to our view 
limitless treasures of spiritual instruction therein, but also 
that it lifts the Bible out of the arena of scientific contro- 
versy. Science and Kevelation have each its province, and 
the two need not conflict. It is the province of Science to 
investigate truth relating to our physical nature, and the 
material world which is its home. It is the province of 
Kevelation to teach truth respecting our spiritual nature, 
and the spiritual world which is its home. Or, as is often 
said, it is the province of Science to deal with effects, and 
of Eevelation to deal with causes ; for the physical world is 
the world of effects, and the spiritual world, that of causes. 

"But it is also true that while the two are distinct, 
neither can be rightly comprehended without the other. 
A true conception of Christianity— that is, of religion — is 
now possible, because true science is now beginning to be 
discovered and accepted. The foundation is being laid 
upon which the superstructure can rest. A false or im- 
perfect science and a false or imperfect religion have 
always gone hand in hand. Man rises from sensuous 
thought to spiritual thought, and if his sensuous thought 
be wrong, his spiritual thought must needs be erroneous 
or imperfect. 

" On the other hand, if a man stops in the sensuous 
plane of thought, he sees but one side of the truth, and 
that the lower; and to accept that as complete, is to falsify 
all his conceptions." 



20 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

Thanks be to the Lord for the revelations made through 
Swedenborg; from this time forth the sacred Scriptures 
will be reverenced as they have never been before since the 
age of Noah, for in the light of this newly-revealed science 
of correspondences they are taken out of the regions of 
theory and speculation, and placed in that of absolute 
knowledge ; their Divine origin by those who have a 
reasonable knowledge of correspondences will no more be 
questioned than the existence of the French, German or 
Italian language by those who have patiently acquired a 
knowledge of the key or grammar and dictionary of such 
language. The Word then becomes holy, for it is seen to 
be from God, who is shown therein in very deed to be our 
Father — who, from His great parental love for His chil- 
dren, has revealed to us in it the spiritual history of our 
race and the laws of spiritual life, in accordance with 
which we must live if we would have heaven within us, 
and consequently reach a state of happiness and heaven 
hereafter. 

"We are satisfied," says a recent writer, "that could 
many of the heartiest opponents of such a view of the Word 
of God perceive that there is such a rule and such a key, — 
that, unlocked by this consistent key, the darkest places of 
Scripture are opened to the light, with results not only 
not trivia], but of high importance to the spiritual pro- 
gress of man, — they would gladly receive what would so 
entirely vindicate the divinity of the Scriptures and at the 
same time thoroughly sweep away the basis of all infidel 
objections. It would neither impugn the correctness nor 
depreciate the value of fche literal sense. Every fact and 
every principle which they now learn they could still re- 
vere, as we do. But, added to this, they would find the 
Word filled with a grander significance, and derive from it 
fuller instruction." 



THE FIBST CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 21 

IV. 

The First Chapters of G-enesis. 

THESE chapters, as is well known, have given rise to 
a serious controversy between scientific men and 
theologians. Believing that both parties have been in 
error, and contending against each other when there is no 
occasion or real ground for such controversy, we propose 
to consider them briefly in the light of the revelations 
made through Swede nborg. But before doing this, we 
desire to say that these chapters belong to the revealed 
Word of God, had Him for their author, and consequently 
contain divine truths adapted to the wants and under- 
standings of the men for whom they were written, long 
before the days of Moses, and copied by him. It matters 
little by what man's hand they were first penned, the sim- 
ple question is, Have they a connected spiritual sense? if 
so they have the Divine imprint, and their authorship is 
placed beyond question. These chapters contain the early 
spiritual history of the golden age and of our race, and 
they were copied by Moses more especially for the benefit of 
this and coming ages, when, in the good providence of the 
Lord, a knowledge of correspondences has been restored 
to men. We make this statement at the commencement 
as to the sacred character of the contents of these chapters, 
for we should be exceedingly sorry to lessen, by any thing 
we may write, any man's reverence for a single moment 
for the Word of God, of which we know these chapters to 
be a part. 

It would seem that, unaided by further revelation, an 
intelligent man, if he could divest himself of the prejudices 
and preconceived ideas derived from education (a very 
difficult thing to do), on carefully reading these chapters 
in Genesis, might ask both the scientist and the theologian 
a few practical questions, which would be worthy of their 
serious consideration. 



22 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

To the scientist he might say: "You assume that there 
is no other earth but the material earth and no other crea- 
tion but the material creation, and because you have found 
by your investigations into the works of creation, espe- 
cially in your geological researches, that the earth was not 
created in six days, and the order of creation was not such 
as the order described in Genesis, you have come to the 
conclusion that this portion of the Bible, as applied to the 
creation of the material universe, is not true, and conse- 
quently your faith in the entire volume as containing 
divine revelations, is impaired if not destroyed ; but have 
you never heard of a mental earth, an earth which can 
hear, fear, be joyful, mourn, be corrupt, and be judged ? 
If you have not, you will not have to read the sacred 
Scriptures long before you will find that, whether they 
ever treat of the material earth or not, they certainly do of 
a mental or spiritual earth; for you will read, even in 
Genesis: "The earth also was corrupt before God/' Surely 
the material earth was not corrupt; and elsewhere you 
will read, " Hear, earth, the words of my mouth ;" " Let 
earth hear;" "Hear, earth, I will bring evil on this 
people;" " The earth feared ;" "The earth mourneth and 
fadeth away;" "Let the earth rejoice;" "Sing, heavens, 
and be joyful, earth ;" " The earth is full of the good- 
ness of the Lord;" " The earth shall be full of the knowl- 
edge of the Lord;" "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all 
the ends of the earth;" "The earth is utterly broken 
down, the earth is dissolved;" "The earth and all the in- 
habitants thereof are dissolved;" "He uttered His voice, 
the earth melted;" "Arise, God, judge the earth." 
Surely you can but perceive that it was not the material 
earth which was meant in the above and a multitude of 
other passages you will find. You scout the idea that the 
days of creation in Genesis were vast indefinite periods of 
time and not literal days, as the language certainly im- 
plies if we take the narrative literally, and I do not see 
how any sensible man, untrammeled by preconceived ideas, 



THE FIRST CHAPTERS OF GEKESIS. 23 

can differ from you in this respect; but having satisfied 
yourself that this narrative is not a correct literal history 
of the creation of the material universe, and especially of 
our earth, do you see nothing in it worthy of your careful 
consideration ? Its very existence, coming down as it 
does from time immemorial, must be as much of a mystery 
to you as any you can find in the material universe, if you 
ignore its divine origin. Professing to be a Divine reve- 
lation, it certainly is written in an orderly and systematic 
manner, and is a beautiful history, and I think you will 
admit that it did not come, or was not written, by chance 
or by an impersonal being. The writer certainly was an 
intelligent being undoubtedly in the form of man, and it 
is evident he, or the being who 'wrote through him, had 
a design, which was to convey useful and practical infor- 
mation for men. There certainly is too great a manifes- 
tation of intelligence for us to suppose that the author of 
these chapters either did not know what he was writing 
about, or did not understand his subject. What object 
could he have had, if it is to be understood literally? 
To the theologian he would say : " Why do you assume 
that the first chapters of Genesis treat of the creation of 
the material earth and the first physical men on it ? Is there 
not enough in the very language itself to show unmistak- 
ably that it was never intended by the writer as a history 
of the material creation— in fact, could not in the very 
nature of things have been so intended ? Look at it pa- 
tiently for a moment. A material earth without form and 
void, or empty. Could matter possibly be without form 
and void?" "And darkness was upon the face of the 
deep — abyss." If the earth was without form and void; 
where could there have been a deep or abyss ? Literally, as 
the narrative reads, there was light, day and night, on 
earth before the creation of the sun, moon and stars, and 
vegetation appeared on earth before the sun was created. 
The sun, moon and stars were not created until the fourth 
day, and then apparently simply to give light and heat to 



24 CALL TO THE NEW JEEUSALEM. 

the earth. No wonder that the astronomer, viewing the 
heavens with his telescope, the geologist carefully examin- 
ing the record in the strata of the earth, reading their 
wonderful revelations of a vast past history for the earth, 
and the photographer analyzing the light of the sun, 
showing almost beyond question that the sun is the phys- 
ical parent of the earth — no wonder, I say, that they, in 
the light of recent discoveries, cannot accept the record in 
Genesis as a correct history of the creation of the material 
universe, and especially when, according to theologists, the 
creation was crowded into six days, and occurred only 
about 6000 years ago. If you abandon the literal days 
you give up the whole as a literal narrative ; for if the days 
so carefully described were not literal days, what right 
have you to assume that any part of the record was literally 
true, as to the material creation ? But taking the record 
as a history of the material creation, your difficulties have 
but fairly commenced with the first chapter ; but I shall 
only hastily call your attention to a few of them, such as 
the garden eastward in Eden. The tree of life also in the 
midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good 
and evil, were these literal trees ? do not their very names 
show that they were not, but that they were mental or 
spiritual trees ? Nothing would seem to be more absurd, 
surely, than in the very face of their significative names to 
assume that they were literal trees, unless it may be to sup- 
pose that woman was made from a literal rib taken from 
man. Now, is it true that the serpent is more subtle than 
any beast of the field, and that he can talk, or that he eats 
dust ? What reason have you to suppose he ever talked or 
could reason ? After Adam and Eve had eaten of the for- 
bidden fruit their eyes were opened ; what does this mean ? 
had they not their eyes open before this ? and did they not 
know that they were naked before this event ? Then we 
read, "The Lord God made coats of skins and clothed them." 
Now, I ask you in all sincerity, if it is possible to regard 
the passages to which I have referred, and a large number 



THE EIRST CHAPTERS OF GENESIS. 25 

more, as a part of a literal history of the natural creation, 
or to suppose for a moment, on a careful and unbiased 
reading, that they were ever intended as such by their 
author ?" 

In the revelations made by the Lord through Emanuel 
Sweden borg, we are clearly shown that the Word of the 
Lord was not given to teach man natural sciences, or a 
history of the material creation, for such knowledge, by 
patient research, is already within man's reach, and he will 
be benefited by his investigation ; but Divine Eevelation 
has a higher and nobler use to perform ; in other words, 
by it the Lord our Creator reveals to man a knowledge of 
Himself and of spiritual truths, which man, unaided, by 
searching could never find out, for they are entirely above 
the reach of the natural man. Man cannot build a tower, 
by his self-derived intelligence, which will reach to heaven, 
and thus scale its walls and obtain heavenly wisdom and 
goodness. If he would reach heaven or heavenly knowl- 
edge, he must ascend by the ladder let down from heaven, 
or by living a life according to the truths revealed by the 
Lord through or from heaven in the sacred Scriptures, to 
guide him. All genuine knowledge of the Lord and of 
spiritual truths possessed by man has been revealed to man 
by the Lord, and handed down either in a written form or 
by tradition ; but in the latter case, often more or less per- 
verted. 

The first chapters of Genesis, according to Swedenborg, 
are a pure Allegory, written according to the correspond- 
ence between natural and spiritual things. They contain 
a spiritual history of the most ancient church, denom- 
inated Adam, and of the ancient church denominated 
Noah, which was established after the fall of mankind, and 
after our race became overwhelmed by a flood of falses and 
evils. It is not of the physical creation that they treat, 
but of the spiritual creation or regeneration of men, and 
even of the regeneration of the men of our day, for the 
Word of the Lord is applicable to all men of all times. 
2 



26 



CALL TO THE KEW JERUSALEM. 



The most beautiful and important lessons of spiritual 
truth are contained in these chapters for our use; com- 
pared with which, natural sciences and the physical history 
of our earth sink into insignificance. 

In what follows, we propose to give the reader simply a 
glimpse of the contents, or spiritual sense of these chap- 
ters. To do justice to them, or to fully illustrate the 
meaning and show its correctness by quotations from other 
portions of the sacred Scriptures— for all parts of the Word 
must be interpreted or explained in harmony with every 
other part, the Word being practically its own interpreter 
—would require a volume. Such a volume has already 
been written by a man specially prepared and illuminated 
by the Lord for the purpose. In the first volume of Swe- 
denborg's Arcana Coslestia, containing 568 pages, the 
reader will find an explanation of the first eleven chapters 
of Genesis which will satisfy his highest reason. We are 
authorized to say that this volume will be sent, postage paid, 
to any clergyman who may desire it for his own use, on 
the receipt of one dollar by the American Swedenborg 
Printing and Publishing Society, 20 Cooper Union, New 
York. The regular price to others is one dollar and fifty 
cents, as will be found on the cover of this work. 

y. 

Genesis, Chapter First, and Creation. 

IN his preface or introduction to this chapter Sweden- 
borg says: 
"1. That the Word of the Old Testament includes 
arcana of heaven, and that all its contents, to every par- 
ticular, regard the Lord, his heaven, the church, faith, and 
the things relating to faith, no man can conceive who only 
views it from the letter. For the letter, or literal sense, 
suggest only such things as respect the externals of the 
Jewish church ; when, nevertheless, it everywhere contains 
internal things, which do not in the least appear in those 



FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS. 27 

externals, except in a very few cases, where the Lord 
revealed and unfolded them to the apostles — as that sacri- 
fices are significative of the Lord — and that the land of 
Canaan and Jerusalem are significative of heaven, on 
which account they are called the heavenly Canaan and 
Jerusalem — and that Paradise has a like signification. 

" 2. But that all and every part of its contents, even to 
the most minute, not excepting the smallest jot and tittle, 
signify and involve spiritual and celestial things, is a truth 
to this day deeply hidden from the Christian world; in 
consequence of which little attention is paid to the Old 
Testament. This truth, however, might appear plainly 
from this single circumstance: that the Word being of the 
Lord, and from the Lord, could not possibly be given 
without containing interiorly such things as relate to 
heaven, to the church, and to faith. For if this be denied, 
how can it be called the Word of the Lord, or be said to 
have any life in it ? For whence is its life, but from those 
things which possess life? that is, except from hence, that 
all things in it, both generally and particularly, have rela- 
tion to the Lord, who is the very Life Itself. Wherefore 
whatsoever does not interiorly regard Him, does not live; 
nay, whatsoever expression in the Word does not involve 
Him, or in its measure relate to Him, is not divine. 

"3. Without such a living principle, the W T erd, as to 
the letter, is dead. For it is with the Word as it is with 
man, who, as all Christians are taught to believe, consists 
of two parts, an external and an internal. The external 
man, separate from the internal, is the body, which, in such 
a state of separation, is dead ; but the internal is that 
which lives and causes the external to live. The internal 
man is the soul ; and thus the Word as to the letter alone, 
is like a body without a soul. 

"4. It is impossible, whilst the mind abides in the literal 
sense only, to see that it is full of such spiritual contents. 
Thus, in these first chapters of Genesis, nothing is dis- 
coverable from the literal sense, but that they treat of the 



28 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

creation of the world, and of the garden of Eden which is 
called Paradise, and also of Adam as the first created man ; 
and scarcely a single person supposes them to relate to 
anything besides. But that they contain arcana which 
were never heretofore revealed, will sufficiently appear from 
the following, pages; where it will he seen that the first 
chapter of Genesis, in its internal sense, treats of the New 
Ceeatiok of man, or of his Eegeneration in general, and 
specifically of the most ancient church ; and this in such a 
manner, that there is not a single syllable which does not 
represent, signify, and involve something spiritual. 

" 5. That this is really the case, in respect to the Word, it 
is impossible for any mortal to know, however, except from 
the Lord. Wherefore it is expedient here to premise, that, 
of the Lord's divine mercy, it has been granted, now for 
several years, to be constantly and uninterruptedly in 
company with spirits and angels, hearing them converse 
with each other, and conversing with them. Hence it has 
been permitted me to hear and see things in another life 
which are astonishing, and which have never before come 
to the knowledge of any man, nor entered into his imagi- 
nation. I have there been instructed concerning different 
kinds of spirits, and the state of souls after death — con- 
cerning hell, or the lamentable state of the unfaithful — 
concerning heaven, or the most happy state of the faith- 
ful — particularly concerning the doctrine of faith which is 
acknowledged throughout all heaven : on which subjects, 
by the divine mercy of the Lord, more will be said in the 
following pages." 



EXPOSITION OF THE IHTEKNAL SENSE. 29 



VI. 

Brief Exposition of the Internal Sense of the First 
Chapter of Genesis. 

(DRAWN FROM THE "ARCANA CCELESTIA.") 

THE six days or times are so many successive states of 
the Kegeneration of Man. 

In the beginning signifies the most ancient times with 
our race ; and as all the sacred Scriptures have a relation 
to the Lord and to man in the present as well as in the 
past, it also signifies the state of infancy and the state 
immediately preceding regeneration with every one. 

To create, to form and to make, signify to regenerate, as 
the regeneration of man is really a new creation or a new 
birth — the putting off of the old selfish nature and putting 
on the new unselfish or heavenly in its stead. In no other 
way can a man become an angel. Heaven here signifies 
the internal man, and earth before regeneration the ex- 
ternal man. 

The first state, or day, includes infancy and the state 
previous to regeneration, and the first motion which is 
the mercy and spirit of the Lord acting on the remains 
or knowledges stored up in the memory during childhood 
and youth. This doctrine of remains is one of the most 
beautiful and sublime of the doctrines which have been 
revealed to us through Swedenborg, and shows the won- 
derful mercy and wisdom which the Lord has manifested 
for His children, and can but inspire every parent and 
teacher with renewed efforts to implant in the memory of 
children the letter of the Word, and by precept and example 
to inculcate those lessons of kindness and good will, for- 
bearance and respect for authority and the rights of others, 
or of good and truth, upon which the future regeneration 
of the child so much depends. If a child were brought up 
absolutely among wild beasts his regeneration would be 



30 CALL TO THE KEW JERUSALEM. 

nearly if not quite impossible, for he would be destitute 
of such remains. 

Waters signify knowledges always, and when pure and 
unperverted they signify truths ; filthy water or the waters 
of the flood signify falses and evils. Truth serves the 
same purposes for the soul that water does for the body — 
cleanses, purifies, and conveys nourishment. 

The earth without form and void, or empty, signifies 
man before regeneration — without form where there is 
nothing true, void where there is nothing good, or no 
genuine spiritual truths and goods. The faces of the deep, 
or abyss, over which darkness prevails, are the lusts of the 
unregenerate man and the falsities thence originating, of 
which he consists and in which he is immersed previous 
to regeneration, and this is the abyss into which he sinks 
if not regenerated. 

"And God said, Let there be light; and there was 
light." This signifies the first state of regeneration, when 
man begins to know that good and truth are of a superior 
nature. Men who are altogether external do not know 
what good and truth are ; they think all things to be good 
which relate to self-love, and love of the world, and all 
things to be true that favor those loves, whereas such 
goods and truths are evils and falses. When regeneration 
commences man first begins to see or realize that the Lord 
is, and that all life and truth are from Him. Light is 
called good because it is from the Lord who is good itself. 
Whatsoever is from the Lord is light, and is compared to 
day, and when man looks to the Lord and acknowledges 
Him in all things it is day with man. Whatsoever is 
man's own in his estimation is of darkness, and is com- 
pared to night ; therefore when man turns from the Lord 
and His commandments to himself and his own conceits, 
it is night with him. 

Evening denotes every preceding state, or that of shade 
or falsity, or no or little faith, when man feels or inclines 
to feel that he is good and wise of himself, and not from 



EXPOSITION OF THE INTERNAL SENSE. 31 

the Lord. Morning denotes every subsequent state, being 
one of light or of truth or of the knowledges of faith. 
Day is also used to denote time itself, as "The day of 
Jehovah cometh," and it is used to denote the state of 
that time, as in Jeremiah vi. 4 : " Woe unto us ! for the day 
goe th away, for the shadows of evening are stretched out." 

Verse 6th. — When man begins to see and heed the truth, 
and to realize that all genuine truths and goodness are 
from the Lord, then the Lord says, Let this perception ex- 
pand amidst the waters or knowledges stored up in the 
memory, and divide between the waters in the waters, or in 
other words, distinguish between the knowledges which are 
in the internal man, and the scientifics which pertain to the 
external man. Man before regeneration does not realize that 
he has an internal man; therefore this dividing line must 
be made in the midst of the knowledges or waters. This 
expanding perception, with the knowledges of goodness and 
truth from the Lord, gradually develop heaven within 
man. "And God called the expanse Heaven." At the 
commencement of regeneration man does not realize that 
the goods and truths in the internal man are of the Lord 
alone, but he supposes that the good things done and 
truths spoken are of himself ; therefore the waters beneath 
the expanse or firmament, or natural scientific truths or 
knowledges, are first to be separated, and- afterwards the 
knowledges of heavenly truths are more clearly perceived. 

^Regeneration proceeds from evening to morning, thus 
from the external man to the internal or from earth to 
heaven. The Lord does not, as it were, violently break 
the fallacies nor quench the desires of the senses, but He 
inclines them to what is true and good. In regard to this 
second day or state Swedenborg says : 

"The second state is when a division takes place be- 
tween those things which are of the Lord and such as are 
proper to man. The things which are of the Lord are 
Ciilled in the Word remains, and are here principally the 
knowledges of faith, which have been learnt from infancy, 



32 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

and which are stored up., and are not manifested till man 
comes into this state. This state at the present day sel- 
dom exists without temptation, misfortune, or sorrow, by 
which things appertaining to the body and the world, that 
is, such as form the proprium or selfhood of man, are 
brought into a state of quiescence, and as it were of death. 
Thus the things which belong to the external man are 
separated from those belonging to the internal. In the 
internal man are the remains, stored up by the Lord till 
this time and for this purpose." 

The next day, or the third state, discloses a fresh ad- 
vance — the waters are gathered by themselves, and the 
dry ground appears. There are also brought forth grasses, 
herbs, and fruit trees. In spiritual things this day's work 
unfolds that great change of our states in our mental pro- 
gress when we perceive that, valuable as instruction and 
truth are, duty and goodness are far more so. " The good 
ground," said the Lord, in the parable of the sower, " are 
they who, in an honest and good heart, having heard the 
word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." (Luke 
viii. 15.) 

"And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be 
gathered together into one place, and let the dry land ap- 
pear." When man begins to perceive or understand that 
truths and goods, or good inclinations, descend from the 
Lord through the internal man into the external, then 
they are stored up in his memory and become scientiiics. 
These knowledges are the waters gathered together into 
one place, and which are called seas. When man begins to 
perceive that he has an internal and external man, and 
to separate and arrange the heavenly knowledges in his 
memory, from the natural truths therein, then the dry 
land begins to appear. 

The external man is then called dry land. The earth 
here signifies the mental earth, or the external man or 
mind, which with its seas or gathered knowledges stored 
up in the memory, to be called forth by the Lord, He pro- 



EXPOSITION OF THE INTERNAL SENSE. 33 

nounces good. In Isaiah we are told, " The earth shall be 
full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
sea." 

When a man has through misfortune or otherwise come 
to feel that there is a higher life than that of selfishness, 
and knowledge more important than that which pertains 
to the earth, and that the Lord is, and truth and good are 
from Him, thus separating heavenly truths, then he begins 
to see his evils more clearly and repents of them, and then 
he begins to discourse piously and devoutly, and to do 
good works, but as yet he does them from himself; still 
there is then the beginning of life, but the lowest form of 
life; for in verses 11 and 12 we read, "And God said, Let 
the earth bring forth the tender grass," etc. The Lord is 
He who sows, the seed is His Word, and the ground or 
earth is man, as He declares in Matthew xiii. 19, Mark iv. 
14, Luke viii. 11. The first and lowest form of life which 
the material earth produced was vegetable life, the tender 
grass, the herb-yielding seed, and the fruit-bearing trees, 
all tied to the earth, and comparatively inanimate; so of 
the first works which are done by men during regeneration. 
At first he supposes the good which he does and the truth 
which he speaks to be of himself; they are therefore inani- 
mate, or tied to the earth, like the grass, herb, and fruit- 
bearing tree; but such works and thoughts are good and 
useful as the foundation as it were for a higher spiritual 
life, like the tender grass, herb, and fruit-bearing tree on 
the physical plain. 

The Lord likens the spiritual development of the king- 
dom of heaven within man to the growth of vegetation : 
" First the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the 
ear." 

The third day or state of regeneration, that of repent- 
ance proceeding from shade to light, or from evening to 
morning, has now drawn to a. close. 

" The fourth state or day is when a man becomes affected 
with love, and illuminated by faith. He indeed previously 



34 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

discoursed piously, and produced the fruit of good ac- 
tions ; but he did so in consequence of the temptation 
and straitness under which he labored, and not from a 
principle of faith and charity ; wherefore faith and charity 
are now enkindled in his internal man, and are called two 
luminaries." 

" And God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse 
of heaven to distinguish between the day and night," etc. 
Love is the great luminary to rule by day, and where man 
is ruled by love to the Lord and neighbor, he is a law unto 
himself, and it is day with him. Faith is the lesser lumi- 
nary to rule by night, or in states of mental darkness and 
doubt; then if not moved to do his duty by the love of 
that which is good and true, he must, if he would preserve 
the new or heavenly life in his soul, be guided by faith, or 
compel himself to live according to the Lord's command- 
ments and precepts. The stars or knowledges of faith de- 
rived from the sacred Scriptures, are also God-given lights 
to guide our footsteps during states of mental darkness.^ 

"And God set them in the expanse of the Heavens to 
give light upon the earth." Or He set them in the inter- 
nal man, a great luminary in the will, and a less in the 
understanding. Man has two faculties — the will and un- 
derstanding — a grand division only. Love and faith in 
the internal man are like heat and light in the external 
corporeal man, for which reason the former are represented 
by the latter. There is no life without love, and all joy 
flows from love ; such as the love is, such is the life, and 
such the joy. Desires spring from love; remove desires 
and thought would cease, and we should become as dead 
men. Self-love and love of the world, being altogether 
contrary to the love of the Lord and the neighbor, have 
only some semblance of true love; in reality they are 
hatreds, as careful observation shows. There can be only 
one true loye, and one true life, whence flow all true joys, 
and true felicities, such as are tasted by the angels in the 
heavens. Love and faith should not be separated, they 



EXPOSITION OF THE INTERNAL SENSE. 35 

should ever remain one or united, like the heat and light 
of the sun. If with man there is little or no faith, it is 
night with him, and spiritual darkness prevails. If there 
is faith without love, it is winter with him — cold and 
dreary. 

Verse IS. — "And to rule over the day and over the 
night, and to divide between the light and the darkness." 
By day is meant good, and by night, evil. By light is 
meant truth, by darkness the false. 

" The fifth day or state is when man discourses from a 
principle of faith, and thereby confirms himself in truth 
and goodness: the things then produced by him are 
animated, and are called the fish of the sea, and the birds 
of the heavens." — Sivedenborg. 

God being the creator of all things, the works of creation 
are but manifestations of His affections and thoughts, and 
man being created in His image and likeness, all created 
objects around us in the material universe must correspond 
to his affections, though ts,and intellectual perceptions. After 
the great luminaries of love and faith are kindled and placed 
in the internal man, and the external thence receives light, 
then the regenerating person begins to live by receiving 
love and faith from the Lord, and acknowledging their 
source. " By creeping things which the waters bring forth 
are signified scientifics which belong to the external man ; 
by birds in general, rational and intellectual things, of 
which the latter belong to the internal man." — Swedenborg. 

"It is the fifth day, while the intellect is busy with new 
thoughts, and man is confirming in himself ideas of truth 
and goodness of every kind. These are represented by the 
living creatures the ground brought forth. Desires to live 
in every habit we have in harmony with the spirit of 
heaven, are ever present with us. Our lowest creeping 
things are. alive. All our natural affections, the beasts of 
our earth, are filled with the spirit and purpose of heaven. 
Jehovah makes a covenant, as he says in Hosea ii. 18, with 
the beast of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and 



36 



CALL TO THE KEW JEKUSALEM. 



with the creeping things of the earth. In fact, all things 
m us praise the Lord. We delight to be conformed to His 
will. We take up the language of the Psalms to our little 
spiritual universe (Ps. cxlviii. 7, 10), 'Praise Jehovah from 
the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps; beasts and all cattle • 
creeping things, and flying fowl/ And when the whole 
mmd is thus filled with spiritual life, we are prepared for 
the next grand change to be introduced by the Lord, and 
announced by the sublime words, 'Let us make man.'"— 
Rev. Dr. Bayley. 

"The sixth day or state is when a man, from a principle 
of faith, and thence of love, speaks what is true, and does 
what is good; the things which he then produces are 
called the living soul and the wild beast. And because he 
then begins to act from a principle of love, as well as of 
faith, he becomes a spiritual man, and is called an image. 
His spiritual life is delighted and sustained by such things 
as relate to knowledges respecting faith, and to works of 
charity, which are called his meat; and his natural life is 
delighted and sustained by such things as belong to the 
body and senses, from whence a combat or struggle arises, 
until love gains the dominion, and he becomes a celestial 
msm."—S'wedenborg. 

But this chapter treats of the spiritual man and the fol- 
lowing of the celestial. The work of creation or regenera- 
tion was not finished on the sixth day, but on the seventh. 
"And God created man in his own image, in the image 
of God created he him." The reason why image is here 
twice mentioned is because faith, which belongs to the 
understanding, is called his image; whereas love, which 
belongs to the will, is called an image of God; which in the 
spiritual man follows, but in the celestial man precedes. 
Or the spiritual man is guided by truth, restrains and 
governs his passions and appetites, his thoughts and in- 
clinations, by the truth. Whereas the celestial man acts 
from love, as it were, instinctively; but, says Swedenborg, 
"Those who are regenerated do not all arrive at this state. 



EXPOSITION OF THE INTERNAL SENSE. 37 

The greatest part, at this day, only attain the first state; 
some only to the second; others only to the third, fourth, 
and fifth; few to the sixth; and scarcely any to the 
seventh." 

VII. 

The Creation of Man and ¥oman. 

(AS DESCRIBED IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF GENESIS, AND AS 
DESCRIBED IN THE SECOND.) 

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a liv- 
ing soul."— Gen. ii. 7. 

"T"N considering the Divine wisdom contained in the 
JL first two chapters of Genesis," says the Rev. Dr. Bay- 
ley, "there are two particulars which are somewhat 
striking in themselves, and have served to confirm theories 
entirely incompatible with the authority of this portion of 
the Divine Word as a revelation from Infinite Wisdom. 
The first is, that notwithstanding in the preceding chapter 
it is said, that ' God made man, male and female, on the 
sixth day, yet in the present chapter (ver. 5) it is said, after 
the seventh day, 'there was not a man to till the ground/ 
No ingenuity can make it probable that all the proceed- 
ings related to have taken place, from the creation of Adam 
to the formation of Eve from his rib during his sleep, 
could be the work of one day only. He is said to have 
named all the animals in the time, and to have discovered 
that it was not good for man to be alone. Can it be sup- 
posed that all which is implied in these operations could 
be the work of twelve, or even twenty-four hours ? Im- 
possible. We must seek for a higher reason ; and happily 
this is afforded. In the first chapter of Genesis, the regen- 
eration of man is the theme, np to that state in which 
truth becomes his only law and guide. He is then a true 
man, and a free man, in the image of his God. His 
relio-ion is not constrained now, as it is in all the states 



38 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

meant by the days preceding the sixth. Hence, at the 
conclusion of that day, all things are pronounced by the 
Divine Being to be very good. Man is in that state a truly 
spiritual man ; he conquers in every trial to which he is 
subjected. " But there is a state better still: it is that in 
which love is the supreme law — in which man is more 
than conqueror: he is no longer the subject of temptation. 
There is no labor in this state; all is rest, not the rest of 
inactivity, but a rest from struggle — a state of interior 
peace — a sabbath of the soul. This is truly a celestial 
state. The former chapter traced man's mental creation, — 
his spiritual progress, up to the stage of his becoming fully 
spiritual; but this chapter is taking the description for- 
ward until he becomes celestial. Up to the period de- 
scribed in this verse there was no man to till this ground, 
— to cultivate the celestial state. 

" We shall, perhaps, be able to see the interesting sub- 
jects of thought to which the spiritual sense here invites 
us more clearly, if we notice three remarkable features of 
distinction between the first chapter and the second, both 
of them apparently treating of the origin of things, and of 
man. In the first chapter ivater occupies the leading 
place ; in the second chapter ground is the most important. 
God broods over the face of the water on the first day ; he 
divides between the waters on the second ; he distinguishes 
between land and water on the third; He made fishes and 
fowls from the water on the fifth day. This will readily 
be understood and its bearing be seen by the spiritually- 
minded student, who knows that water, in its varied 
forms, is the symbol of truth — that living, purifying power 
which is called the water of life (Eev. xxi. 1 ; John iv. 10, 
14). Water in the sea is representative of truth in the 
memory; general, external, undiscriminated, capable of 
being tossed about by every wind of doctrine. Water, as 
gentle rain, is representative of truth as it descends from 
the intelligent mind of a loving teacher, or from the Lord 
the Divine Teacher; hence Moses said, 'My doctrine shall 



THE CREATION OF MAH AN"D WOMAtf. 39 

drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the 
rain upon the tender herb, as the showers upon the grass/ 
(Deut. xxxii. 2). Water, as a river, is representative of 
truth when it has become elevated to the inmost affections 
of the soul, and thence flows down again into the whole 
mind and life, purifying, directing, fructifying, and bless- 
ing the whole man. This is the river of God, which is 
full of waters (Ps. lxv. 9 ; xlvi. 4). In the second chapter, 
the only water mentioned is the river which flowed out of 
Eden, and which was divided into four heads: a river 
which has never been found on earth. It is a symbol of 
truth flowing from the heart, when man is in a celestial 
state. 

" In the second chapter, ground has the leading position. 
Mist comes upon the whole face of the ground ; man is 
made of the dust of the ground ; out of the ground grow 
all trees pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree 
of lives and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; 
out of the ground fowls are formed (ver. 19), though in 
the first chapter they are said to be formed from the water 
(ver. 20). Ground is the symbol of goodness ; for this is 
the ground into which the seeds of truth should be re- 
ceived. The good ground is an honest and good heart, 
said the Lord Jesus (Luke viii. 15). Those states are 
properly spiritual, in which the spirit of truth is the prin- 
ciple from which man acts as the guiding rule of his life. 
Those states are properly celestial, in which love or good- 
ness is the leading characteristic. When a man is in 
spiritual states, he is rigidly right, aims at constant cor- 
rectness in the path of duty, is perhaps brilliant, and de- 
lights in pursuing the truth, but is comparatively cold. 
When a man is in the celestial state, he is gentle, loving, 
kind, merciful, easily entreated, long-suffering, ever re- 
gards goodness as the chief object of his care, and is in all 
his religious duties, warm. The spiritual man regards the 
water of heaven, or truth mainly; the celestial man, the 
ground of heaven, or goodness mainly. Hence the first 



40 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

feature of distinction which the discriminating mind will 
notice between the two chapters. 

"The next distinctive feature between them is in the 
different name employed to express the Deity. In the first 
chapter everything is done by God, Elohim ; in the second, 
by the Lord God, Jehovah Elohim. This circumstance 
has led some to conjecture that the two are merely separate 
traditions of the creation collated by Moses, and giving 
only the speculations of the writers respecting the origin 
of men and of all things. But this idea, in order to ex- 
plain the difficulty of finding the Creator designated by 
different names, leads us to the unspeakably greater dif- 
ficulty of a denial of revelation. For, if we deny this por- 
tion of the Divine Word to be anything more than un- 
authorized traditions of unknown writers, we by implica- 
tion deny the whole Bible to be a Divine revelation, for 
the whole proceeds upon the basis of this early part being 
divinely true. And what a result is this ! To think that 
our heavenly Father has left His immortal children with- 
out a guide ! that He who provides bounteously its food 
for the humblest insect has left man's spiritual demands 
unsatisfied ! Oh, no ! we cannot admit so terrible a result. 
Man, already an angel in embryo, asks for angels' food, 
and He who has provided for all his other wants must have 
provided for this. 'Man lives not by bread alone, but by 
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' 
< Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteous- 
ness, for they shall be filled.' That which seems an imper- 
fection in the divine revelation only appears so, because 
the spiritual character of that revelation is not seen. < The 
law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul' (Ps. xix.) ; 
and when its application to the soul is seen, its divine 
beauty and excellence at once are made manifest. 

" But when we ascertain the spiritual sense of the names 
God and Lord, we shall find that their diversity is an ex- 
ample of the divine excellence and perfection of the Holy 
Word, as well as an illustration of the truth of our prin- 



THE CREATION OF MAN AND WOMAN. 41 

ciple of unfolding it. The appellation God (Elohim, or 
powers) is expressive of the divine truths, which manifest 
the powers of God, and which, under the name of the 
divine laws, really effect all which God does in the entire 
universe. The appellation Jehovah (he who is) designates 
the inmost existence of Deity, the Divine Love. God is 
love. The two grand essentials of Deity, Infinite Love, the 
source of all the goodness of the Lord, and Infinite Wis- 
dom, the source of all the truth from the Lord, are con- 
stantly referred to in the Old Testament, and discriminated 
from each other by these two names Jehovah, or Lord, and 
God. < I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me,' 
means that we appeal to the Divine Truth, but Divine 
Love really saves us. 'Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I 
will joy in the God of my salvation,' directs our attention 
to both divine principles as sources of interior joy. By 
noticing the use of these two appellations, and bearing the 
signification in mind, a beauty and force will be found in 
the Holy Word which was before unsuspected, but which 
is eminently interesting and important. 

" While man is in the spiritual states of his regenera- 
tion, truth is the spring of his conduct— his guiding star, 
his impelling power. He follows it, he bows to it ; it rules 
him, fights for him, recreates and renews him. Hence 
God does all for him in these states. Although Divine 
Love is really within the Divine Truth at all times, man 
is not consciously aware of this. 

"When, however, man has entered into a celestial state, 
and, in all he does, goodness has the lead, a great change 
is gradually effected in his mode of thinking. He does 
not value truth less, but he esteems Christian love and 
goodness more. He is no longer prone to dispute about 
truth, but is only careful to practise it. The law is writ- 
ten upon his heart ; it is no longer the object of reasoning. 
He sees it by light from within ; he says, Yea, yea, to what 
he inwardly perceives to be right, or Nay, nay, to the re- 
verse. He is now at peace, and has but to cultivate and 



42 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

preserve the virtues Divine Love and Wisdom have un- 
folded within him. He is in Eden, and has only to dress 
and to keep it. In all the divine dealings with him now 
he sees the Divine Love as manifest as the Divine Wisdom. 
He discerns not only the right of Providence in all things, 
but its mercy. It is no longer God only, but Jehovah 
God, who leads him. It is the Deity as his Father that 
he rejoices to hear. He feels his love around him, and 
within him, and he is happy. He lives in his Father's 
house ; his Father's commands are no hard laws to him, 
but delightful directions. He loves the law, and has great 
peace (Ps. cxix. 165). This, therefore, is the sufficient 
reason for the name of the Lord being Jehovah God in 
the second chapter, and simply God in the first. 

"The third distinctive peculiarity is, that man is de- 
scribed in the first chapter as being created male and 
female, on the sixth clay. In the second, after the seventh 
day is described, he is created as Adam, alone, and not 
until many proceedings are narrated which cannot be sup- 
posed as having taken place in twelve or twenty-four 
hours, is it found not to be good for man to dwell alone, 
and during Adam's sleep Eve is formed. We do not mean 
it to be inferred that we think man's physical creation is 
related in either the first or the second chapter. An in- 
quiry into that is the proper subject of natural science, 
not of divine revelation. God's Word has to do with 
souls, churches, and man's spiritual career, not with 
earthly questions, which scientific lore is quite adequate to 
solve. There are sufficient indications of the existence of 
other inhabitants of the world in the time of Adam and 
Eve, to show that their history is not the account of the 
single solitary family of human beings then inhabiting 
the globe. Cain went into the land of Nod, and there he 
took a wife (chap. iv. 17). Whence came his wife, if there 
were no other people yet existing than his own father and 
mother? When he slew his brother Abel, and was con- 
victed by Jehovah, he complained that when he was cast 



THE CKEATION OF MAN AND WOMAN". 43 

out from his presence, every one that met him would kill 
him, and Jehovah set a mark upon him for his protection. 
Of whom could he be afraid, if there were no one on earth 
but his father and mother ? He built a city, it is said, 
and called it after the name of his son Enoch (ver. 17). 
Whence did they get the building materials ? Surely a 
city implies more than one family. 

" In thinking, therefore, of Adam, we must dismiss from 
our minds the idea of the natural creation of man as the 
subject of our divine narrative at all. Doubtless God 
created the physical universe, and man upon it; but that 
is not the subject now, nor of that revelation whose grand 
purpose everywhere is not natural history, nor external 
events, except as the medium of conveying heavenly and 
divine instruction (Isa. lv. 8). 

"Adam is the generic name for all human beings; in 
Hebrew it is equivalent to Man. Hence it is said in the 
fifth chapter of the book before us (ver. 2), 'God created 
them male and female, and called theie name Adam in 
the day/ etc. This single appellation, Man, was expressive, 
among the wise ones of old, of human beings in a regen- 
erated state ; and as these, when presented together in the 
divine sight, compose one body (1 Cor. xii. 12), the Church, 
however numerous the members may be, are called by this 
one name, Man or Adam. 

"This is expressed very strikingly in the Hebrew of 
Ezek. xxxiv. 31 : ' And ye my flock, the flock of my pas- 
ture, are Adam, and I am your God, saith the Lord 
Jehovah.' 

"Let us resume, then, the inquiry for the spiritual 
reason why man is spoken of in the first chapter as having 
been created male and female, and in the second as Adam 
alone. 

"In the spiritual states of man, which we have seen to 
be described in the first chapter, and in which truth in 
the intellect is the sovereign ruler, the two grand facul- 
ties of the mind are distinctly presented as male and 



44 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

female. The intellect is male, for intellect predominates 
in the properly developed manly character; the will, the 
seat of the affections, is female, for the heart is the pre- 
dominating characteristic of the true womanly character. 
Both these grand faculties are, however, found in each 
mind, so that, in a certain sense, each mind is male and 
female, and when both the heart and the understanding 
are combined in the reception of true religion, in that 
mind there is a marriage, an interior union of the truth 
which is understood, with the goodness which is loved: 
their land is married (Isa. lxii. 4), they know the truth, 
and they are happy because they do it. 

" Now, while man is in spiritual states, and has first to 
learn the truth by slow investigation and reasoning, and 
afterwards to bring his heart by further effort, to adopt 
the truth, and do it, he perceives these two faculties of his 
soul very distinctly, as though they were separate. He 
feels that he is male and female. But when he has en- 
tered into the celestial state, so that love from the heart 
rules every lower faculty and power, this divided con- 
sciousness disappears. He feels as one embodiment of love, 
from first to last. Heavenly love in him adores, love be- 
lieves, love bears, love speaks, love acts. He becomes a 
form of holy love. That principle glistens in his eye, 
pervades his language, and if the spirit could be visibly 
presented to the sight, it would be a beautiful form of 
celestial affections embodied. Because this state, the 
celestial one, is the subject of the second chapter, Adam is 
presented up to the time when something not good is dis- 
covered, as dwelling in Eden, alone. 

"We have a parallel presented in Deut. xxxiii. 28- 
' Israel then shall dwell in safety, alone: the fountain of 
Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his 
heavens shall drop down dew/ Here, Israel is treated as 
one person, and dwelling alone, when there was nothing 
foreign, or adverse there. The loneliness is not that of 
solitariness, but of unity. So is it in the celestial state of 



THE CREATION OF- MAJs" AXD WOMAJf. 45 

man, or of the Church. The ruling love, being heavenly, 
glows like a celestial fire in the highest region of the soul ; 
■wisdom, like a flame from that fire, illuminates the whole 
mind with a calm and holy light. All things below have 
been moulded to delightful and ready obedience, and 
happy order rules in every principle of the character and 
life. Then, man dwells in Eden, in safety, alone." 

Such, then, are some of the lessons which are presented 
for our consideration in the divine account of man in 
Eden, spiritually understood, or when this portion of the 
Divine Word is unfolded according to the law of corre- 
spondences between spiritual and natural things, revealed 
by the Lord through Emanuel Swedenborg. 



VIII. 

Eve. 

THE men of the most ancient Church were led by the 
Lord, aud had a perception of that which was good 
and true, and they acknowledged the Lord as the giver and 
themselves as but recipients. They were said to dwell 
alone, because they were under the Lord's guidance as 
celestial men, and were not infested by evils or evil spirits. 
But their posterity began gradually to decline from this 
exalted state, and were not content to be led by the Lord, 
but desired also to be guided by themselves and the world. 
By the woman which was formed and given to the man 
is signified selfhood, or what is properly one's own, or 
rather what appears to be one's own. The state of man, 
when he supposes his life to be self-derived, is compared 
to deep sleep, aud by the ancients it was called deep sleep, 
and in the Word it is said of such that they have poured 
out upon them the spirit of deep sleep, and that they 
sleep the sleep. By a rib, which is a bone of the chest, is 
meant man's selfhood, or proprium, referred to above, in 
which there is but little vitality, as bones possess little 



46 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

vitality or life. By to build is spiritually signified to raise 
up what was fallen; by the rib, the comparatively dead 
selfhood or love of self and the world; by a woman is 
signified a selfhood vivified or made alive by the Lord ; 
by he brought her to the man is signified that a selfhood 
or proprium was granted him. Their being naked and 
not ashamed, signifies that they were innocent; for the 
Lord had insinuated innocence into their selfhood or pro- 
prium, to prevent its being offensive to him. "The 
posterity of this Church, " says Swedenborg, "did not wish, 
like their parents, to be a celestial man, but to be under 
their own self-guidance, and thus inclining to selfhood; 
it was granted to them, but still one vivified or made alive 
by the Lord, and therefore called a woman, and afterwards 
a wife." Instead of perceiving and feeling as their an- 
cestors constantly did, that all life, all truth and goodness, 
were from the Lord, and that they were living from Him' 
they were still permitted to perceive that the} lived from 
the Lord, although when not reflecting on the subiect 
they knew no other but that they lived from themselves 
"It is not/' says Swedenborg, "however, easy to perceive 
how these things are, unless the state of the celestial man 
is understood. In the celestial man the internal man is 
distinct from the external; indeed, so distinct that he per- 
ceives what belongs to the internal, and what to the ex- 
ternal and how the external is governed by the internal 
from the Lord. But the state of the posterity of this 
celestial man, in consequence of inclining to proprium or 
the affections which belong to the external man, was so 
changed that they no longer perceived the internal man 
to be distinct from the external, but imagined the internal 
to be one with the external; for such a perception takes 
place when man inclines to proprium, or to the love of 
sell and the world." 

^JTlTf t 7 f the M ° St Ancient Churoh > OT of Adam 
when he dwelt alone, was not evil bnt still good; and be- 
cause they desired to live in the external man, or in pro- 



EVE. 47 

prium, this was permitted by the Lord, but charity and 
innocence were insinuated; and men still made the ex- 
ternal things subordinate to spiritual, and used the 
things of this world without placing their chief delight 
therein ; the fall was not yet, but was to come. 

It is impossible to give in a few words, touching here 
and there only, a yery good or even clear idea of the 
wonderful practical treasures of spiritual knowledge con- 
tained in these divine chapters when spiritually unfolded 
according to the science of correspondences. If the reader 
would understand this part of the sacred Scriptures, he 
must read the first volume of Swedenborg's "Arcana Coeles- 
tia," and he will there find every verse, sentence and word 
carefully unfolded, and will be able to see that the Word 
of the Lord is indeed infinite, and contains treasures for 
him vastly surpassing in value all earthly treasures. 



IX. 

The G-arden of Eden— Its Trees and River. 

"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and 
there lie put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground 
made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight 
and good for food ; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, 
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out 
of Eden to water the garden ; and from thence it was parted, and 
became into four heads." — Gen. ii. 8-10. 

THAT this garden," says the Eev. Dr. Bayley, "its 
trees, and fountain with four streams, were never 
intended to be otherwise than allegorically understood, the 
very names, as already intimated, themselves undoubtedly 
imply. What is a Tree of Life ? The Book of Proverbs 
answers, Wisdom is a Tree of Life. And may we not ask 
the firmest adherent to the letter of the Scriptures only, 
Did you ever find life growing on any earthly tree ? Has 
life more than one source, and do we not regard this to 
be Him who is the Life ? Do we not find this same tree 



48 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

declared in the Book of Eevelation to be in the midst of 
heaven? 'To him that overcometh,' it is said, <I win 
give to eat of the Tree of Life that is in the midst of the 
paradise of God ' (Eev. ii. 7). But can any rational mind 
suppose that an earthly tree has been transplanted to a 
spiritual and heavenly world ? The idea is obviously un- 
worthy of being rationally entertained. Again, we find the 
Tree of Life in the midst of the New Jerusalem, and on 
both sides of the river. 'In the midst of the street of it, 
and on either side of the river, was there the Tree of Life' 
which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit 
every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the 
healing of the nations' (Rev. xxii. 2). Is this at all com- 
patible with the idea of a literal tree? Assuredly not. 
But when on the other hand we reflect that from the one 
source of life, the Lord, there descend two grand influ- 
ences—Love and Wisdom— in the most intimate union • 
and these form the inmost powers of light and blessing to 
the regenerated soul— the soul in the state of paradise 
then we recognize the tree of two lives in the ancient 
garden of Eden. We say the tree of two lives, for the 
word rendered life, hacliayim, is in the dual, not in the 
singular, nor m the general plural, in the account of this 
tree m our text. The holy influence of the Lord, in its 
twofold character of love and light within, is the tree of 
lives. This is in the midst of the garden of the soul. 
Ihis is the source of the joys of the angels. This is the 
centre and pervades all the principles of the New Church 
called the New Jerusalem. The virtues it inspires in all 
the varying states of man's regeneration- as his faith 
waxes and wanes, and thus his spiritual months go on-are 
the twelve manner of fruits it bears. On its holy branches 
grow acts of patience for seasons of affliction, of gratitude 
for those of prosperity, of trust and fortitude in the storms 

liv ' °a *f ? eV0lence > chai %> and justice in our daily 
walk and of hope ever speaking of better things, like an 
inward gem. glittering in all the golden fruit of this divine 



THE GARDEK OF EDEtf. 49 

tree. Its leaves are the truths, which are for the healing 
of the nations. 

" The tree of knowledge of good and evil is equally in- 
dicative of a spiritual existence, not of a natural plant. 
For on what tree does knowledge grow, save on the human 
mind? The idle fancy that this tree was an apple-tree 
cannot be called a thought, it is a fancy having no rational 
ground. Can knowledge be cut from an apple, or squeezed 
from a fig ? We find knowledge grows only as we exercise 
the desire to know. 

" The knowledge of external things may well be Called 
the knowledge of good and evil, for it is the knowledge of 
the results of order and disorder, of fitness and unfitness, 
of truths and appearances. It is an acquaintance with the 
outsides of things. This knowledge is useful for earthly 
purposes, but is not the real truth. It is a tree that has 
its uses in the garden, but its fruit is not to be eaten. 
Our own sensations give us a knowledge of ourselves, but 
that knowledge is full of fallacy, and needs the constant 
correction of a higher wisdom. We feel as if our life were 
our own. We are conscious of no origin of life out of 
ourselves. We feel that we exist, but we do not feel the 
stream of life from which our existence is momentarily 
maintained. Judging from our own sensations, we are 
self-existent. This, however, is an appearance, which we 
must beware of confirming. Let the tree grow for its own 
purposes, but do not eat the fruit. Our own knowledge 
is good to know and to use, but not to eat, or to confirm, 
and make part of ourselves. The perceptions of heavenly 
wisdom are the other trees of the garden ; and of these we 
may freely eat — they are in accordance with eternal truth. 
But, of the tree of our own self-perceived knowledge we 
may not eat, for in the day, or state, in which we eat of it, 
we enter upon the path of error, of self-will, of carnal- 
mindedness, of spiritual death; 'For to be carnally 
minded is death ; to be spiritually minded is life and 
peace.' — Eom. viii. 6. 
3 



50 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

" Both trees can be rightly admitted into onr garden, 
but each must have its proper place, and each its proper 
value assigned : the Tree of Lives must be in the midst of 
the garden ; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, at 
the circumference. That a garden, and especially the 
garden of Eden, is regarded in the sacred (Scripture as 
symbolic of a regenerated, cultivated state of the soul, is 
manifest in the declarations of the prophets. The prophet 
Isaiah said: 'The Lord shall guide thee continually, and 
satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones : and 
thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of 
water, whose waters fail not' (lviii. 11). Jeremiah adopts 
the same language of correspondence: 'Therefore they 
shall come and sing in the heights of Zion, and shall flow 
together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat and for 
wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of 
the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; 
and they shall not sorrow any more at all ' (xxxi. 12). 

" This circumstance gives us the reason why the site of 
Eden has never been found. Persons who have had no 
higher idea of the Divine Word than the literal one, have 
sought everywhere to discover a land watered by four 
rivers flowing from one fountain : one of the rivers being 
the Euphrates. No satisfactory discovery has ever been 
made. 

" But all have admitted that the exact site could not be 
found. And yet, according to the prophet, the king of 
Tyre had found it, and been in it many hundreds of years 
after the flood, if it also were a natural event. ' Son of 
man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and 
say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God ; Thou sealest up 
the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast 
been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone 
was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, etc., * * * * thou 
hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of 
fire,' (Ezek. xxviii. 12-14). 

"If the garden of Eden means a cultivated, enlightened, 



THE GARDEN OF EDEtf. 51 

and happy state of mind, this language is not difficult to 
be understood. The precious stones represent precious 
truths ; the stones of hre, truths glowing with love, for 
love is spiritual heat. 

"Another mention of the trees of Eden is made by the 
same prophet in chapter thirty-one, where the language of 
the whole chapter is unquestionably allegorical. ' Behold,' 
it is said, ' the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, with fair 
branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high 
stature ; and his top was among the thick boughs' (ver. 3). 
Of the Assyrian thus represented by a majestic cedar, the 
prophet proceeds to say : ' The cedars in the garden of God 
could not hide him : the fir trees were not like his boughs, 
and the chestnut trees were not like his branches ; nor any 
tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. 
I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches : 
so that all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of 
God envied him' (ver. 8, 9). Again: 'I made the nations 
to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to 
hell with them that descend into the pit : and all the trees 
of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink 
water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth ' 
(ver. 16). Here, it is manifest, no natural trees can be 
meant. These could not envy the Assyrian, or strive to 
hide him. These could not be comforted when they went 
down to the pit, with them that are slain. From every 
consideration, therefore, it is clear, that in the Divine 
Word, Eden and its trees are the types of a mental and a 
spiritual paradise, not of a natural garden. 

"The river which watered the garden, with its four 
heads of subordinate streams, though nowhere found in 
nature, is easily found in spirit. It is that Divine Truth, 
which is called the f river of the water of life ' (Kev. xxii. 1), 
which is meant by the Eiver of God, which is full of 
waters ; and that holy stream which the prophet saw, and 
which 'made everything live where it went' (Ezek. xlvii. 
9). Divine Truth as it descends from the Lord comes as 



52 CALL TO THE IfEW JERUSALEM. 

one river, but as it is received by man it is parted into 
four great divisions, faith, knowledge, reason, and science ; 
and these illustrate the different departments of the mind, 
which are like so many countries into which they flow. 

" Happy is it with man when all these streams are re- 
ceived and harmonize together. His state is then an Eden 
indeed ; a paradise of light, and love, and joy. 

" We must return to the Eden state, or we can never 
attain the joys of Paradise. The Lord will sow the good 
seed of the Word in our souls, if we will permit Him. He 
will give us power to cultivate our minds, and make our 
souls like a watered garden. We must have His love and 
wisdom like a tree of lives in the centre of our garden, and 
of its fruits we may eat and live. This is the only way of 
securing Paradise. The kingdom of God must be formed 
within (Luke xvii. 21). It is indeed not meat and drink, 
bat righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Eom! 
xiv. 17). How vain is the dream of those who fancy that 
to find happiness they must seek it in distant lands— some 
in Jerusalem, some in Mecca, some in Rome. Heaven and 
happiness are as near in our beloved land as on any spot of 
God's earth, and by them who seek faithfully, by help from 
our blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus, to subdue the sources 
of misery m themselves, in their vices, their passions, and 
their follies, whether they dwell in a palace or in a cottage, 
in an island, or in distant lands, the divine promise will to 
them be realized: 'The Lord shall comfort Zion: he will 
comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilder- 
ness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord • 
joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and 
the voice of melody" (Isa li. 3). 

If the reader would understand this wonderful allegory 
of the Garden of Eden, as fully unfolded by the science of 
correspondences between spiritual and natural things, he 
must read the first volume of Swedenborg's "Arcana 



THE FALL OF HAST. 53 



X. 



The Fall of Man— The Serpent— And the Curse 
Introduced into the World. 

(WRITTEN BY THE REV. DR. BAYLEY, OF LONDON.) 

" And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou 
hast done ? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and 
I did eat."— Gen. iii. 13. 

" np HAT man is not now in the condition in which 
J_ he must have been created seems evident if we 
reflect upon the perfections of his Divine Creator, or the 
manifest capabilities of the human constitution, and then 
notice the individual and social state of the race at present. 
"When man came from the hands of his Maker, without 
the intervention of other human beings, he must have 
been complete and unperverted in his degree of life, and 
in his powers, though that degree and those powers were 
finite ; since his Divine Creator must have been too good 
not to desire to make him complete for happiness, too wise 
not to know how to accomplish His purpose, and too 
powerful not to be able to carry it into effect. Man must, 
therefore, have been created, at first, in a state of order, 
and with every power to arrive at the possession of the 
highest, fullest bliss. But now, alas, how changed is the 
whole scene of mankind! Swarms of police and immense 
standing armies are required to prevent private and public 
ruffians from preying upon mankind. Wild passions are 
with difficulty restrained; now and then they burst all 
bounds, and like volcanoes which have been long pent up, 
but whose burning surges can no longer be held in, they 
pour forth their rivers of scorching death on all around. 
Universal imperfection is admitted, and testifies to an 
universal fall, seen from the outside of society. But when 
we regard man as he is within, he who watches his own 
heart and mind knows how much there is to subdue, 



54 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

reform, and to regenerate, before he can be happy. Others 
see, sometimes, what is done, but they see not what is 
resisted. 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and 
desperately wicked, who can know it ?' (Jer. xvii. 9.) The 
human mind is like a magnificent building whose splendid 
arches and glorious proportions may be traced, but which 
lies in ruins. It is a volume of incalculable worth, on 
which the laws of eternal righteousness are to be traced in 
golden letters, but, alas ! it is all torn and blotted, and can 
only, by a divine hand, be restored. The world within is 
like the world without. By the diligent hand of cultiva- 
tion fair spots are formed of verdure and of beauty, lovely 
enough to show what is the intention of its Maker, and 
what are its capabilities, but at the same time it is actually 
deformed with jungle and desert, with m~rsh and quag- 
mire, with thorn and briar. Wild beasts of every hideous 
and terrible form hide, and howl, and roar, and fight, and 
destroy there. Such is the human soul now. How came 
it thus ? That is our present inquiry. 

" The history of nations has no answer to our present 
question. Human philosophy is equally dumb. Divine 
revelation imports to give an answer, and the question 
upon which we are now engaged is, What does the answer 
mean? 

"Those who take the early chapters of Genesis as a 
literal history inform us that a natural serpent seduced our 
first parents, and persuaded them to eat of a fruit which 
God had forbidden to be touched, and for this offence God 
cursed them and their posterity, the serpent, and the 
earth. But this is so strange an account, that if it had 
not first been childishly received in the dark ages, and 
continued to be taught us generally in childhood, it would 
not have been received at all. What a strange idea does it 
give of God, when it represents Him as placing a tree 
needlessly in paradise ; for, according to this idea, its fruit 
was never to be tasted, it could only tantalize the inhabi- 
tants of the garden. What a character does it attribute to 



THE FALL OF MAN.- 55 

infinite love, the best of Beings, when it describes Him as 
so jealous of the fruit of this one tree, and so unfeeling to 
His immortal children, as to curse them and their unborn 
posterity, because this fruit was taken! What an im- 
probable circumstance is narrated, when we are told that 
our first parents in their perfect state could be seduced by 
an animal, and be led away from God by a beast of the 
field. This has been felt to be so improbable that many 
have said the devil was in the serpent, but Moses says not 
a word about any devil entering the serpent. His words 
are simply, 'Now the serpent was more subtle than any 
beast of the field which the Lord God had made ' (Gen. 
iii. 1). And if a devil was the real delinquent, how comes 
it to pass that he escapes without a word, while the poor 
serpent, his innocent tool, is punished? By this mode of 
understanding the narrative the real culprit is never men- 
tioned, the beast is condemned to go on its belly and to 
eat dust all the days of its life. And what is still more 
wonderful, not only does the devil escape unnoticed, but 
the serpent takes no notice of the sort of food he is con- 
demned to live upon, and declines to eat dust any more 
than other carnivorous animals. 

" This serpent, too, according to a mere literal interpre- 
tation, should have its head bruised by the Messiah, and it 
should bruise His heel (chap. iii. 15). But who ever 
heard of its continuing to live four thousand years, until 
the Saviour came, or then fulfilling this prediction ? 

" But it is said, God gave a law respecting the tree of 
knowledge of good and evil : ' Thou shalt not eat of it, for 
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die ' 
(Gen. ii. 17). And he was bound by His undeviating 
truth to put this law into execution. But here the literal 
interpretation meets with another difficulty, or rather with 
several difficulties. For, taking the word death in the 
natural sense, its advocates are compelled to admit Adam 
did not die on the day he ate of the tree, and not until 
nine hundred and thirty years after. If this death were a 



56 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

curse, these advocates say, Christ took upon Himself the 
curse inflicted upon man, and so saved the human race. 
Of course then man ought not to die. Besides, in that 
case, the law which it was said God was, by His unde- 
viating truth, bound to enforce, was not enforced after all; 
for the law was 'Thou shalt surely die.' It says not one 
word of any one dying for him. The death of another 
would not fulfil the law, Thou shalt surely die. Lastly, 
all this argument respecting the inflexible law goes upon 
the implied meaning of the law to be what it by no means 
expresses. In the day thou eatest thereof, I will cause 
thee to die, or I will put thee to death. There is, how- 
ever, nothing of this kind in the announcement. 

"Having seen the difficulties which crowd around a 
merely natural interpretation of the serpent, and the cir- 
cumstances which are connected with it in the sacred 
Scriptures, and seen how full an illustration they 
give of what the apostle calls 'the letter that killeth,' 
let us now advance to the 'spirit which giveth life' 
(2 Cor. iii. 6). 

"That the serpent is used in the sacred Scriptures with 
a spiritual meaning, is evident from this very Book of 
Genesis, and almost from every other. We read, chap, 
xlix. 17, 'Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in 
the path, that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider 
shall fall backward ; ' very obscure this language, unless 
we apply to its interpretation the science of correspond- 
ence, in which each natural object bears a representation 
which has an analogy to its nature and habits. The ser- 
pent lives and moves close to the earth. In warm coun- 
tries it is to be found in great numbers, in great variety, 
and often of great size. Some kinds are harmless, but 
some are most deadly. They are generally insidious in 
their movements, and they spring from under the grass or 
leaves, or from their holes in the sand, ere the traveller is 
aware that danger is near. Some species are said to exer- 
cise great power of fascination, and make it almost impos- 



THE FALL OF MA^". 57 

sible for the animal they have destined for their prey to 
escape. From all these circumstances, we can easily 
recognize their analogy with that affection of our nature 
which disposes us to delight in the gratifications of sense. 
The love of sensual things is useful, though its uses are of 
a low kind. If it were not pleasant to us to observe the 
beauties of our lovely world, to listen to the music of the 
human voice and the harmonies which nature offers, to 
enjoy the fragrancies with which the balmy air is loaded, 
and to taste the savours of the food which Providence 
bestows to sustain and strengthen us, our bodies could not 
be maintained as a healthy base for the higher things of 
life. The serpent, though a creeping animal, has his 
proper place and use in the little world of the human 
mind. Yet in the strong excitements of sense there is 
a subtle tendency to excess., that needs the constant watch- 
fulness of wisdom to preserve this principle in order. 
'The serpent is more subtle than any beast of the field 
which the Lord God has made.' 

"Sensual love, when chosen and preferred above the 
higher and holier principles that dignify the moral, the 
rational, and spiritual departments of our nature, makes 
the spirit of fiends and fiendish men, and hence is called 
'that old serpent, even the devil and Satan, which de- 
ceiveth the whole world.' (Rev. xii. 9.) To oppose this 
spirit, and destroy its direful power, the Lord came into 
the world by assuming the seed of the woman, and thus 
fulfilled the prophecy by bruising the head or chief power 
of the serpent, when He conquered hell. The infernal in- 
fluences bruised His heel or lowest part, His outward 
human nature; while He became completely triumphant 
by then glorifying His human nature, and subduing hell 
and death. 

"He gave His disciples, at first, and He still gives them, 
power to tread upon serpents of sensuality in themselves, 
as He says, 'I beheld Satan like lightning fall from heaven. 
Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and 



58 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy : and noth- 
ing shall by any means hurt you/ (Luke x. 18, 19.) 

" We have now the chief elements for understanding the 
divine account of man's fall. The tree of knowledge 
represents the knowledge we acquire by our senses; the 
serpent, the love of sensuous knowledge and experience, 
which may be good or bad, according as it is kept in its 
proper place, or raised to rule where it ought to serve. 
When the serpent is the servant of higher principles, it 
inspires its possessor with circumspection ; when suffered 
to rule, it leads to sensuality. ^ 

"In the woman's reply a remarkable fact is to be 
noticed ; she regards the tree of knowledge as in the midst 
of the garden, although as the Lord God arranged the 
garden, the tree of lives was in the midst (chap. ii. 9). 
She says, i We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the 
garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst 
of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, 
neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die ' (chap. iii. 3). In 
this declaration of the woman we have another change of 
state implied; she regarded the tree of knowledge, not 
the tree of lives, as the centre of all wisdom. When we 
have adopted our conclusions from the short-sighted ap- 
pearances of sense, as being central truth, we are ripe for 
ruin, and such was the condition of the people represented 
by the divine record before us. There is an experience 
illustrative of this in the case of every one who falls. If 
divine wisdom were firmly held to, if the tempted fled for 
refuge from their own clouded fancies, to the Rock of ages, 
all would be well ; but when they place the tree of their 
own knowledge in the centre of the mind, they find their 
fancied strength becomes the veriest weakness, and the 
issue is misery and death. 

"The serpent next becomes bolder. The sensual prin- 
ciple strengthens itself, and suggests, « Ye shall not surely 
die : for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, 
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, 



THE FALL OF MAN". 59 

knowing good and evil. ' When we determine to act upon 
our own conceits, we deem ourselves singularly clever. 
We conclude we shall take no harm ; we shall know how 
to elude all the dangers Divine Wisdom has predicted, and 
all the world shall see how successful shall be our projects. 
We shall no longer be hoodwinked; our eyes shall be 
opened, and we shall be as gods, showing that we know 
how to secure, in our own way, and by our own strength, 
selfish indulgences and the goods of selfish and worldly 
success, and avoid the evils of suffering, adversity and want. 
We take then the fruit of the tree ; it seems good, it seems 
pleasant. It is a tree to be desired to make one wise. We 
take it, but soon experience shows that this wisdom of the 
serpent is the curse of the soul. Alas for such opening 
of the eyes as then takes place ! A sense of weakness is 
soon unfolded ; a sense of restlessness and loss ; a sense of 
blame, and necessity for covering. We desire to excuse, 
and apologize. We cover ourselves with the fig-leaves of 
idle pretences that we had no power to do otherwise, al- 
though we forsook the guidance and the strength which 
were extended to save us. We have lost the bright day 
of former light and love ; it has become evening, and we 
are cold and sad. 

" It is the cool of the day. The hour of reflection has 
come on. The merciful voice of the Almighty is perceived 
moving in the garden of the soul, and asking the impor- 
tant question, ' Adam, where art thou ? ' 

" Can any one conceive that the All-knowing needed to 
inquire after man in an earthly garden ? Surely not. But 
He comes from His mercy into the conscience of every 
one after sin. The question implies the divine impulse, 
leading the sinner to ask himself, 'Man, where art thou?' 
Eemember where thou wast. Thou hast been innocent, 
peaceful, and happy; how art thou now? Thou hadst 
once the sweet lessons of heavenly wisdom shining brightly 
within thee ; these are all obscured and fled. ' Man, where 
art thou ? I 



60 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

"The origin of evil was not the introduction of a new 
principle into human nature ; it was only displacing the 
principles which were already there, and were all good, in 
their proper order. Natural evil is not anything original \ 
it is but the perversion, or displacement, of what is other- 
wise good. Fire is a good thing as a servant, but bad as a 
master : water is excellent as rain, or in a river, but bad as 
a flood: every power of the human mind and body is good 
in its place and proportion, but each one becomes an evil, 
when unduly exalted. When the senses and the passions 
of the lowest degree of the soul were raised to undue im- 
portance, and the higher and holier principles of the soul 
were first neglected, and then despised and disbelieved, 
this constituted the fall, and it was a real and fearful 
fall— the higher principles of love to God and man were 
thrown down, and made to serve. The life's business of 
man now is to reverse this, and thus rise again by power 
from the great serpent-bruiser— the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Our serpents— our sensual principles, are now too fearfully 
impure, and too strong for us. He will give us power, 
however, to tread upon them. It is hard for us, at first^ 
to resist our proneness to place the pleasures of time be- 
fore the purities of eternity, the desires of the flesh above 
the principles of the spirit; but if we look to Him, the 
Divine and Perfect Man, virtue will go out from Him, and 
we shall be saved, 'Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for 
He shall save His people from their sins/ He will enable 
us to deny ourselves and all our faculties, and follow Him. 
By His power we shall not only subdue the sensual things 
of our nature, but they will be regenerated, filled with new 
heavenly life. We shall first tread upon the serpent, and 
then take it up, and join it to what is heavenly. < These 
signs,' our blessed Lord says, 'shall follow them that 
believe; they shall take up serpents' (Mark xvi. 18). 

"When we have thus struggled, and by the aid of the 
Captain of our salvation conquered, in the conflicts of the 
regeneration, the fall will be reversed in us; the love of 



CAIK AND ABEL. 61 

God and man, wisdom and faith, peace and happiness, will 
be restored to us. We shall realize those gracious words 
of the divine promise, and have paradise and the tree of 
life once more. ' To him that overcometh will I give to 
eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise 
of God'(Kev. ii. 7). 

"Feeling the loss of mankind, by separation from the 
source of all happiness, wisdom, and peace; feeling our 
own personal want of the divine Deliverer from sin and 
sorrow ; let us lift our eyes and hearts to our only Saviour, 
and in the language of Milton say, — 

" Queller of Satan, on Thy glorious work 
Now enter : and beo-in to save mankind." 



How different the above ideas of the fall of man, drawn 
from the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, from those 
generally entertained ; whether more rational or not the 
reader can judge for himself. 

XI. 
Cain and Abel. 

IN his introduction to the internal sense of the fourth 
chapter of Genesis, Swedenborg says: "Since this 
chapter treats of the degeneracy of the Most Ancient 
Church, or the falsification of its doctrine, and conse- 
quently of heresies and sects, under the names of Cain 
and his descendants, it is to be observed, that there is no 
possibility of understanding how doctrine was falsified, or 
what was the nature of the heresies and sects of that 
church, unless the nature of the true church be rightly 
understood. Enough has been said above concerning the 
Most Ancient Church, showing that it. was a Celestial 
Man, and acknowledged no other faith than such as was 
connected with love towards the Lord, and the neighbor. 
By means of that love from the Lord, they obtained faith, 



62 CALL TO THE NEW JEEUSALEM. 

or a perception of all its truths, and were therefore un- 
willing to speak of faith, lest it should be separated from 
Love. * * * Such was the nature of the Most Ancient 
Church and of its doctrine ; but the case is far different at 
the present day, for now faith precedes charity, and by 
means of faith, charity is given by the Lord, and then 
charity takes the precedence. It hence follows, that doc- 
trine became falsified in ancient times when men made 
confession of faith, and thus separated it from love. Those 
who falsified doctrine in this way, or separated faith from 
love, or acknowledged faith alone, were denominated Cain; 
and this thing was regarded by them as an enormous 
(heresy). 

" By the man and his wife the Most Ancient Church is 
signified, as has heretofore been shown: its offspring, or 
first-born, is faith, which is here called Cain; the saying, 
I have gotten a man from the Lord, signifies that faith 
with such as are called Cain, is known and acknowledged 
in a distinct form." * * * They had been, as it were, 
previously, ignorant of faith as a separate object of 
thought, because they had a perception of what related to 
it ; but, when they began to make a distinct doctrine of 
faith, they then collected together the truths which they 
had heretofore perceived, and reduced them into doctrine, 
calling it I have gotten a man, Jehovah, as if they had 
found out something new ; and thus, what was before in- 
scribed on the heart became a mere matter of science. In 
ancient times they gave every new thing a name, and ex- 
plained what the name implied by particular sayings. 
Thus the signification of the name Ishmael is explained 
by the saying, 'Jehovah hath heard his affliction ' (Gen. 
xvi. 11) ; that of Reuben, by the expression, i Jehovah 
hath looked upon thy affliction' (Gen. xxix. 32); the 
name Simeon, by the saying, l Jehovah hath heard that I 
was hated' (Gen. xxix. 33); and that of Judah, by 'Now 
will I praise Jehovah ' (ver. 35). The altar built by Moses 
was called ' Jehovah my banner ' (Exod. xvii. 15) ; and 



CAIN AND ABEL. 63 

in like mariner the doctrine of faith is here denominated 
'I have gotten a man, Jehovah/ or Cain." 

" The second offspring of the church is charity, signified 
by the terms Abel and brother. He is a shepherd of the 
flock who exercises the good of charity, and a tiller of the 
ground is one who is destitute of charity, although prin- 
cipled in faith separate from love, which is, indeed, no 
faith." " Such persons as regarded corporeal and terres- 
trial objects chiefly, were said to till the ground, as is 
evident from what is related in the second chapter of 
Genesis, 19-23 ; where we read, that the man was cast out 
of the Garden of Eden to till the ground." 

But it will be remembered that Cain and Abel dwelt 
together in comparative peace for a time, as brethren; or, 
in other words, faith and charity were still united; thus 
says Sweclenborg, " At its origin faith was not so far sepa- 
rated from love as in the end of days, or in the progress 
of time ; which, indeed, is the case with every doctrine of 
true faith." By Jehovah's having respect unto Abel and 
his offering, is signified that works of charity, and all wor- 
ship grounded in charity, were well-pleasing to the Lord. 

"Abel signifies charity, as stated above. By charity is 
meant love to the neighbor and compassion; for he who 
loves his neighbor as himself, is also compassionate towards 
him in his sufferings, as towards himself." 

" The firstlings of the flock signify that w T hich is of the 
Lord alone, as appears from the statement that the first- 
lings or first-born, in the representative or Jewish Church, 
were all holy, because they had relation to the Lord, who 
is alone the first-born ; and as all love is of the Lord, for 
not the least portion of it is of man, therefore the Lord 
alone is, in reality, the first-born. This feet was repre- 
sented in the ancient churches by the first-born of man 
and of beast being sacred to Jehovah." 

" By Cain, as has been stated, is signified faith separate 
from love, or such a doctrine as admits the possibility of 
this separation." 



64 CALL TO THE KEW JERUSALEM. 

" Cain's being very wroth, represents that charity had 
departed, as may appear from what is afterwards related of 
his killing his brother Abel, by whom charity is signified. 
Anger is a general aifection resulting from whatever is 
contradictory to self-love and its lusts. This is manifestly 
perceptible in the world of evil spirits, for there exists a 
common feeling of anger against the Lord, in consequence 
of their not being principled in charity, but in hatred. 
Whatever does not favor self-love and love of the world, 
excites opposition, which is manifested by anger." 

" Sin in general is called the devil, who, with his crew 
of infernals, is ever at hand when man is destitute of 
charity; and the only means of driving away the devil and 
his crew from the door of our minds, is love towards the 
Lord and our neighbor." 

" Gain's rising up against his brother Abel, and slaying 
him, when they were in the field together, denotes that 
when both faith and charity took their origin from the 
doctrine of faith, then faith separate from love could not 
but disregard and thereby extinguish charity; as at the 
present day with those who maintain that faith alone 
saves, without any work of charity, for in this very sup- 
position they extinguish charity, although they know, and 
confess with their lips, that faith is not saving faith unless 
it be grounded in love." 

Cain's reply when asked, Where is Abel thy brother? 
"I know not, am I my brother's keeper?" signifies that 
he considered charity as nothing, and was unwilling to be 
subservient to it, consequently, that he altogether rejected 
everything of charity. Such at length became the doctrine 
of those who were called Cain. 

"The most ancient people," says Swedenborg, "by 
Jehovah's speaking, understood perception, for they knew 
that the Lord gave them the faculty to perceive. This 
perception could continue no longer than whilst love was 
the ruling principle. When love towards the Lord, and 
neighborly love as a consequence, ceased, perception per- 



THE FLOOD. 65 

ished, for perception could only exist in the degree that 
love remained. This perceptive faculty was peculiar to 
the Most Ancient Church. When faith however became 
separated from love, as in the people after the flood, and 
charity was communicated through the medium of faith, 
then conscience succeeded (in the place of perception), 
dictating to the mind, although after a different mode. 
Of this, by the divine mercy of the Lord, we shall speak at 
a future period." 

The want of space will compel us to leave the reader 
who wishes to pursue this sublime spiritual history of our 
race to consult the first volume of Swedenborg's Arcana 
Ccelestia, and there he will find the spiritual signification 
of the historical record clearly given and abundantly illus- 
trated from every part of the sacred Scriptures. This 
section has been composed almost entirely of short extracts 
from the above work. Taken from their connections and 
illustrations, they can give the reader but a faint idea of 
the depth and fullness of the knowledge contained in the 
spiritual sense of this portion of the Divine Word, as un- 
folded by the Lord through Swedenborg. The reader will 
be surprised to find this record full of the most useful and 
practical lessons of spiritual truth adapted especially to 
the wants of the men of this day, and that it has provi- 
dentially been handed down to us for this very purpose — 
a pure allegory instead of a literal history of the first son 
born to earthly parents most foully murdering his inno- 
cent brother. With a short notice of the Flood and Tower 
of Babel, we shall have done with this part of our subject, 
or the first chapters of Genesis. 

XII. \ 

The Flood. * 

THERE exists among some nations who have not the 
Bible a tradition of a flood, and in Genesis we have 
a description of a universal flood so distinct and clear in 



66 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

all the particulars that it has been received and admitted 
as a record of a flood of material waters by the Christian 
world up to a recent date ; and yet, on a more careful ex- 
amination and comparison of the size of the ark with 
known facts in regard to the number of animals, birds, 
insects and reptiles which could not live in the water, the 
want of adequate ventilation, etc., to say nothing of the 
general opinion of scientists who have examined the sub- 
ject, not a few theologians and theological writers have 
been compelled to admit that such a flood as is described 
in Genesis, with the preservation of animal life as there 
described, has never taken place. When men have a 
dogma or theory to sustain, it is very difficult for them 
to either heed or see the whole truth. 

The late Dr. Pye Smith observed: "Ingenious calcula- 
tions have been made of the capacity of the Ark, as com- 
pared with the room requisite for the pairs of some 
animals, and the septules of others ; and it is remarkable 
that the well-intentioned calculators have formed their 
estimate upon a number of animals below the truth, to a 
degree that might appear incredible. They have usually 
satisfied themselves with a provision for three or four 
hundred species at most, as in general they show the most 
astonishing ignorance of every branch of natural history." 

And yet even this writer, not being able to see any- 
thing in the description in Genesis more important than 
the literal record, was led by his reverence for the sacred 
Scriptures, to the invention of a theory of a local flood, 
which of course in no way answers the description in 
Genesis. 

Could anything show more clearly the necessity, if the 
sacred Scriptures are to retain their hold on the minds of 
men as divine revelations, of a new and higher interpreta- 
tion of their meaning ? The Lord said to His disciples 
when on earth, " I have many things to say unto you, but 
ye cannot bear them now." Have not the wonderful 
scientific developments of this day prepared us for a higher 



THE FLOOD. 67 

unfolding of spiritual truth? Is it not ciear tnat all 
things are being made new on the physical plain of life ? 
and if so, is it reasonable to suppose the Lord has forgotten 
our spiritual wants ? Reader, read carefully the writings 
of Emanuel Swedenborg, and a new world of life and light 
will be opened to you, and you will be ready to exclaim 
that the Second Coming of the Lord is indeed with power 
and great glory. It will be clearly shown to your rational 
comprehension that there are other floods than those of 
material waters, and more to be dreaded by men, of which 
we shall treat hereafter. 

"But," says the Rev. Dr. Bayley, "it may now be asked, 
Why do you not receive the account of the flood as com- 
monly taught ? To this we reply, that, although we con- 
sider the divine account of the flood to be allegorical, we 
by no means make less of the Divine Word than others, but, 
in fact, more. We perceive immeasurably more in it than 
mere literalists admit, but we cannot accept the natural 
interpretation of the history, because we do not believe it 
was ever so intended to be understood. It is part of the 
series which describes spiritual creation under natural 
imagery, trees of life and knowledge, talking serpents, and 
a variety of other particulars which cannot be reconciled 
with reason or with science, if they are literally under- 
stood; and we have no doubt that true theology, true 
reason, and true science are in harmony. They come 
from the same divine fountain.. 

" In the letter, the Word was given to each people in the 
mode best accommodated to them, and in the early ages 
allegory was what they loved. They gave spiritual history 
in natural forms. Hence we have the account of the for- 
mation of the Church, like the creation of the world ; we 
have trees of life and knowledge, and a speaking serpent. 
Hence the origin of parables, and mythology; and to this 
class of writing belongs the flood. But, again, it may be 
asked, Why not consider this history, in particular, literal? 
The geologists inform us that there are no vestiges of a 



68 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

universal flood visible on the earth. The celebrated Pro- 
fessor Buckland, of Oxford, once thought otherwise, and 
wrote his work ' Keliquise Diluviana,' but he recanted his 
opinion, and himself condemned his former conclusions. 
Professor Sedgwick, of Cambridge, also declared that there 
were no appearances in nature from which to arrive at the 
conclusion that there had been a flood affecting the whole 
earth, during the period of human existence. On closing 
his career as Professor, he said, ' Our errors were, however, 
natural, and of the same kind which led many excellent 
observers of a former century to refer all the secondary 
formations of geology to the Noachian deluge. Having 
been myself a believer, and, to the best of my power, a 
propagator of what I now regard as a philosophical heresy, 
and having more than once been quoted for opinions I do 
not now maintain, I think it right, as one of my last acts, 
before I quit this chair, thus publicly to read my recan- 
tation. We ought, indeed, to have paused before we first 
adopted the diluvian theory, and referred all our old super- 
ficial gravel to the action of the Mosaic flood : for of 
man, and the works of his hands, we have not found a 
single trace among the remnants of a former world 
entombed in these ancient deposits.' 

'" Some cling to the literal account of the flood, because 
they find traditions among many ancient nations of such 
a calamity having happened. But this would be the case 
from a vast spiritual deluge. If a wild overspreading of 
malignant follies and falsehoods took place, and an inun- 
dation destructive of all that was sacred among men 
existed, this, in the ancient manner of speaking, would be 
called an universal flood, and in after ages, when the 
spiritual meaning was forgotten, would be supposed to 
have been a flood of earthly waters. This is clearly the 
case with the Hindoo tradition. It was translated by Sir 
William Jones from the Bhagavat, and is the subject of 
the first Purana. It is sufficiently like the Bible account 
of the deluge to show that it alludes to the same great 



NOAH. 69 

event. It is said to have taken place at the close of a 
calpa, or dispensation, when there was a general destruc- 
tion, owing to the sleep of Brahma, and his creatures in 
different worlds were drowned in a great ocean. A holy 
king, by name Satyavrata, is saved by the appearance of 
the Deity in the form of a fish (scientific truth), with a 
great horn (power), who slays a demon, and recovers the 
sacred books. This remarkable tradition concludes with 
these words : ' But the appearance of a horned fish to the 
religious monarch was maya, or delusion, and he who shall 
devoutly hear this important Allegorical Narrative will 
be delivered from the bondage of sin.' Here, then, we 
have a key to all these traditions. The most perfect of 
them all states that it is an allegorical narrative. This is 
in perfect harmony with our view of the flood in the 
Bible; removes every difficulty, and gives a spiritual 
divine lesson." 

XIII, 

Noah. 

u rTIHE history of Adam was not the history of an indi- 
_A_ vidual man, but of a Church represented as a man. 
The elevation, temptation, and fall of humanity in gen- 
eral, are unfolded by the lot of Adam in Eden, his deal- 
ings with the serpent, and his expulsion from Paradise. 
' Male and female created He them ; and blessed them, and 
called their name Adam' (Gen. v. 2). Under his name, 
and in the short but wonderfully significant history of the 
first man and his descendants, the first church, with its 
offshoots, is delineated. These people, who are repre- 
sented as living nearly a thousand years each, are shown 
by Swedenborg to be types of the communities which ex- 
isted in the golden age. That Most Ancient Church, like 
all other great churches, had sects and varieties which 
were its generations — its sons and daughters. Each name, 
with the hundreds of years of existence, describes in the 



70 CALL TO THE NEW JEEUSALEM. 

brief Divine style some state and quality belonging to that 
church. And when it sank altogether with gigantic 
lusts., and immersed in floods of falsehood, it was suc- 
ceeded by another church represented in the Divine Word 
by Noah. 

"It will not be too difficult to think that, as the church 
is one body before the Lord, though consisting of millions 
of members, so its life may be described as the life of one 
man, however long the period assigned to it may be. The 
Jewish Church is generally described in the singular as 
Israel, although it subsisted for fifteen hundred years. It 
was the manner of the ancients thus to group all of one 
sentiment as if they were one being. It is derived from 
the Divine Wisdom, which views heaven as one angel 
(Ps. xxxiv. 7), the church as one body (1 Cor. xii. 37), a 
nation as one individual, as Assyria (Ezek. xxxi.), a heresy 
as one polluted form (Rev. xvii. 5), legions of infernal 
spirits as one devil (Mark v. 9). * 

" We find the same similarity with Genesis, as to the 
ages of the early fathers of mankind, in Egyptian, Chinese, 
and Hindoo mythologies. The first kings of Egypt, ac- 
cording to their traditions, reigned each more than twelve 
hundred years. In the Chinese books it is related that 
the primitive ancestors of mankind lived eighteen hun- 
dred years. The Hindoos, however, assure us that in the 
golden age the period of man's life was eighty thousand, 
and at its best period, one hundred thousand years. And 
one of their holy kings was two millions of years old when 
he began to reign, continued on the throne for a million 
of years, and then spent in retirement one hundred thou- 
sand years more (See Buckle, vol. I). No one in Chris- 
tendom, certainly, would adopt these numbers literally, and 
yet, probably, they had a meaning well understood when 
they were written. 

" The spiritual sense removes the difficulties, and itself 
presents admirable lessons concerning man's regeneration 
and interior life, fraught with instruction and edification. 



NOAH. 71 

"Noah, or Consolation, represents those who would 
form the nucleus of a New Church, the germ of a new age. 
Of these, it is said, he called his name IS oah, saying, * This 
same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our 
hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed' 
(chap. v. 29). And by these words is meant that by means 
of this New Church the difficulties of cultivating the soul 
would be overcome, and spiritual rest would be attained, 
for another signification of the word Noah is Eest. Noah 
is said to have been just and perfect, or upright, in his 
generations, and to have walked with God, and these three 
qualifications are the essentials of every church. Justice 
is expressive of the essence of goodness, uprightness of the 
clear acknowledgment of truth, while walking with God is 
said in relation to the activity of a good life. These three 
are the essentials of all religion. 

"The Church called Noah, then, as possessed of the 
three essentials of religion, the trinity of heavenly virtues, 
is described as just, upright, and walking with God." — 
Eev. Dr. Bayley. 

XIV. 

Shem, Hani, and Japheth. 

" And Noah was five hundred years old : and Noah begat Shem, 
Ham, and Japheth." — Gen. v. 32. 

* TTTE have seen," says Eev. Dr. Bayley, " that Noah 
VV was the representative of the Ancient Church. 
We will now proceed to investigate the Divine Allegory 
further, in relation to the three sons, Shem, Ham, and 
Japheth ; for they and their wives also went into the ark, 
and were saved. 

" These three represent the general features into which 
the church of Noah divided itself. Churches have sons 
and daughters just as individuals, and just as nations 
have. Each sect is as a child to the church out of which 



72 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

it sprung. Thus, out of the Church of Eome sprang the 
Church of England, the Lutheran and the Calvinistic 
Churches. From the Church of England arose the Puri- 
tans, the Methodists, the Baptists, the Independents, and 
all the numerous subdivisions which, as children, grand- 
children, and great-grandchildren, have originated from her. 

" Shem and Japheth appear to represent those portions 
of the Ancient Church who were actuated by that charity 
which hides the sins of others; this was manifested by 
their conduct in covering the nakedness of their father. 
Ham is clearly the representative of such as know indeed 
what is right, but use that knowledge rather to expose the 
failings of others than to hide or to heal them. Their 
wives represent the Affections for these forms of religion. 

" The vineyard Noah planted and cultivated is the 
Church, where the heavenly vines of a true faith grow. 
His getting drunk represents the members of the Church 
giving themselves too much to speculations and selfish 
vanities, and becoming intoxicated with Pride. 

"Spiritual drunkenness is more terrible than natural; 
it is being besotted with phantasies and errors, inflated 
with self-derived intelligence. When a person neglects 
practical religion, and forgets the humility of heart which 
fills us with distrust of ourselves, he is on the highway to 
some infatuation. He begins soon to be impatient of 
contradiction, goes from one paradox to another, until no 
conceit is for him too absurd. Errors of the most fearful 
kind creep in. He will have all the world be occupied 
with some small idea of his, and he sees his one thought 
everywhere, and in everything, and thus by exaggerating 
what may be true in itself to an undue proportion, he shuts 
out other truths, and makes some form of monstrous fal- 
lacy exist where the fair proportion of a complete and 
well-formed faith ought to be. Thus comes spiritual 
drunkenness. When we are in this state we are never 
steady. We reel to and fro like a drunken man. We roll 
from phantasy to phantasy, for the sake of preserving our 



SHEM, ham, and japheth. 73 

idol thought, until we lose sight of the great essential of 
religion; and instead of charity being our central prin- 
ciple, self-love and self-conceit are seen. Thus was it with 
Noah. He was drunken, and was uncovered within, or in 
the midst of his tent (ver. 21). 

" Ordinarily the selfish are at great pains to cover them- 
selves with appearances and pretexts. We have an in- 
stance of this in the case of Adam and Eve. When their 
eyes were open to their real fallen state, and they knew 
that they were naked (that is, were conscious of their 
having sunk into selfhood), they sewed fig-leaves together, 
and made themselves aprons (Gen. iii. 7). The fig-leaves 
represent the lowest forms of truth, such as they are in the 
letter of the Word. These may easily be arranged so as to 
cover any state, however evil. Every false religion is only 
an immense covering of the nakedness of the soul, and an 
elaborate device to put a fair face upon what is intrin- 
sically bad. A man who clings to self still wishes to be 
saved, and he will hatch or favor any scheme that promises 
him salvation without the subjugation of self. 

"Ham exposing his father's nakedness represents the 
spirit of those who have no charity. They see the naked- 
ness of others, but instead of aiding them, or shielding 
them, they tell it to their brethren without. How sad it 
is that so much of the Ham spirit remains to the present 
day. It has been said, and not without some ground, that 
dwelling upon the failings of one another is the besetting 
sin of churches. Yet nothing can be more odious or 
more destructive of true charity. The spirit of heaven 
leads the angels to attribute good to every one, as far as 
possible, and if there be evil, to excuse it as much as can 
be. The spirit of evil accuses, attributes an evil motive 
even when good is done, and magnifies the least failing so 
as to make it a serious fault. Evil spirits are called the 
accuser of the brethren. 'The accuser of the brethren is 
cast down, which accused them before our God day and 
night ' (Rev. xii. 10). This accusing spirit is typified by 
4 



74 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

Ham, and is often connected with a fair amount of learn- 
ing and talent, but, alas ! with the desire of raising itself at 
the expense of others. Indisposed to advance in purity 
and heavenly-mindedness, those who are represented by 
Ham cannot bear to see others esteemed better than them- 
selves, however justly it is their due. If they gaze upon 
the sun, they mark only his spots. Desiring so much to 
detract from the virtues of others, it is a perfect jubilee to 
them to detect a fault. They mark it well ; they see that 
its blackest features come out; they publish it far and 
wide. Alas ! at the same time they know not how much 
they are proclaiming their own deficiency in that highest 
of Christian graces — angelic charity." 

Shem and Japheth covering their father's nakedness 
represents such as in a spirit of charity and kindness 
desire to excuse and heal, rather than to accuse and pro- 
claim the supposed or real faults of others. 

" Let us ever strive and pray for that practical religion 
and sobermindedness that will preserve us in purity and 
order ; lest, in the solemn words of Scripture, the ' shame 
of our nakedness appear.' " 

XV. 

The Flood of Waters. 

IN" treating of the true signification of the first chapter 
of Genesis, it was shown that by the Earth is signified, 
in the Divine language, the human mind ; but that by the 
Earth is denoted the earthy or natural mind, as distin- 
guished from the spiritual or heavenly mind, which latter 
is denoted by the firmament or heaven; and in each degree 
of the mind, there are the two faculties or Will and Under- 
standing, denoted by the land and the water, and the heat 
and the light, or the male and the female : 

"Water in its pure and un perverted state is a type or 
symbol of Truth, or of a specific kind of truth; for iron, a 
sword, a rock, light, etc., etc., are outward images of Truth, 



THE FLOOD OF WATERS. 75 

but always of fixed and specific kinds, and as different in 
their character as are their respective physical correspon- 
dents. Thus iron denotes Truth, natural truth, rather 
in the abstract, as silver denotes its relative spiritual truth 
in the same way ; whilst a Sword denotes truth in a more 
specific sense, or as the sharp and powerful truth by which 
falsehood and evil are assailed, or by which characters 
and reputations are defended ; so a rock in like manner 
denotes truth, but rather those postulates and principles 
which serve as a basis for an argument, or on which, as on 
a foundation, all other truths repose. Light, also, is 
truth, or that mental atmosphere in which specific truths 
become visible to the intellectual sight. It is the medium 
for rendering truths visible. And water is truth of still a 
different kind. The water from the earth, denotes that 
natural truth which is for the purifying and cleansing of 
the natural mind, from any incidental impurities or evils; 
it also relieves the cravings of the mental appetite, which 
thirsts for knowledge and information, and satisfies it with 
such truths as are adapted to its state. And water from 
the atmosphere above the earth being purer, less tainted 
with the dross of earth, denotes truth of a more elevated 
character, i. e., rational or intellectual ; whilst the waters 
from heaven, in like manner, denote those which are of a 
yet higher, or more internal character." — Rev. 67. Field. 

The Water of Life signifies divine truths from the Lord 
through the Word. 

But the waters of the Flood were not pure, harmless 
and useful to man; for they were destructive, therefore 
they do not correspond to truths but to falses, or to those 
perversions of truths, which, with their attendant evils, 
are injurious and destructive to man's spiritual life ; and 
tend to destroy heavenly life, or love to the Lord and his 
neighbor in the soul. 

" The account of the Flood," says the Eev. Dr. Bayley, 
f is such as to impress every reader of the Divine Word. 
It is the history of an appalling calamity. It was a fearful 



76 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

consummation of great evils. But what was its nature ? 
What were its circumstances? Was it of water or of 
wickedness? Those who have not reflected much on 
spiritual things are startled even at the mention of a 
spiritual flood, although the thing itself is not at all 
unknown or unfamiliar. They have heen so long accus- 
tomed to the common idea, and are habitually so persuaded 
of the value of natural life, that although the destruction 
of virtue and truth by torrents of iniquity is far more 
appalling to the wise, to the heedless it seems of little 
moment. Not so, however, is it regarded in the Word of 
God. Throughout its divine pages a spiritual flood is 
treated of as the soul's most awful calamity. And we may 
here notice, that a spiritual assault of evil and error, is 
undoubtedly meant by the term flood, in a very large 
number of passages in the Scriptures. No other meaning 
can be attached often to the expression. How manifest 
this is in the Book of Psalms every one must have noticed. 
Take, as a striking example, the sixty-ninth. ' Save me, 
God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I 
sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come 
into deep ivaters, where the floods overflow me' (ver. 1, 2). 
Again, ' Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink : 
let me be delivered from them, that hate me, and out of 
the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, 
neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit 
shut her mouth upon me' (ver. 14, 15). Here there is a 
cry which nothing but the agony of the bitterest tempta- 
tion could produce. Not the death of the body, but the 
fear of the more terrible death of the soul, could awaken 
the agonizing expressions here uttered. ' Save me, God, 
for the waters are come in unto my soul.' In the eigh- 
teenth Psalm we have something of the same kind. ' The 
sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly 
men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me 
about; the snares of death prevented me' (ver. 4, 5). 
And a little further: 'He sent from above, he took me, 



THE FLOOD OF WATERS. 77 

he drew me out of strange waters' (ver. 16). These are 
evidently entreaties of the soul under bitter trials, which 
are described as floods of water. Such language, with 
such signification, is very frequent in the Scriptures ; and 
the states it portrays belong to the experience of all, 
except those who yield themselves willingly to sin, and go 
constantly along with the stream. The Psalmist says 
again: 'For this shall every one that is godly pray unto 
thee, in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the 
floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him' 
(Ps. xxxii. 6). In earthly floods, the righteous have no 
peculiar exemption. They are objects, like all others of 
divine care, for eternal ends ; but while in ordinary life 
people recognize a great Providence in their escapes from 
danger, a wider and deeper view of Providence would 
reveal the truth that there is a Divine care and mercy 
over those drowned at sea, or dashed to pieces on a rail- 
way, equally with those who rejoice at being unhurt. 
6 The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over 
all His works.' 

" The end of a church is frequently in the Word described 
as accompanied by a flood, though certainly not by one of 
outward waters. Where the end of the Jewish Church is 
predicted by Isaiah, it is mentioned as being accompanied 
by the fearful circumstances of a flood, although no one 
supposes that such a catastrophe outwardly occurred. 

"The prophet Daniel describes the end of the Jewish 
Church, which was completed by the crucifixion of the 
Lord, in like manner as attended by a flood. * And after 
threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not 
for himself; and the people of the prince that shall come 
shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end 
thereof shall be with a flood'' (chap. ix. 26). A flood of 
impieties, falsehoods, and delusions, there was then, but we 
are not aware of any other. Such floods are adverted to 
by the Lord in the Gospel as assailing every one. The 
good come out of them, or ride over them ; the wicked 



78 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

sink and perish. * Whosoever heareth these sayings of 
mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, 
which built his house upon a rock : and the rain descended, 
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon 
that house, and it fell not; for it was founded upon a 
rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, 
and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, 
which built his house upon the sands : and the rain de- 
scended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat 
upon that house ; and it fell : and great was the fall of it ' 
(Matt. vii. 24-27). The floods alluded to in both portions 
of this divine description of the temptations which must 
be endured in the discipline of life, are, as every one will 
admit, those influences which impel the soul to wrong; those 
assaults which like surging waves come again and again to 
try the principles of all, and under which such as trust in 
their own opinions only, and do not rest on the Rock of 
the Divine Word, will too surely fall. Similar floods of 
falsehood, it will be admitted, are meant when it is said, 
on the birth of the man-child, as mentioned in the Reve- 
lation, 'The serpent cast out of his mouth water as a 
flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be 
carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the 
woman ; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed 
up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth' 
(chap. xii. 15, 16). A flood from the mouth of the serpent 
can surely only be understood to mean a torrent of erro- 
neous teachings, destined, if possible, to discredit the New 
Church meant by the woman, and the sublime doctrine she 
has produced for the world. It is, then, the undoubted 
usage of the sacred Scriptures to represent, under the 
figure of a flood, the streams of false and destructive errors 
which prevail at the end of a church, with the utmost 
virulence, and also at some period in the career of every 
man, are permitted to test the sincerity and fixedness of 
his religion. 

"There are three sources of flood mentioned : the ' foun- 



THE FLOOD OF WATEES. 79 

tains of the great deep/ the i windows of heaven/ and ' the 
rain.' In times of spiritual struggle there are opened 
awful deeps within man, which send up malignant, loath- 
some persuasions, scalding hot, which would hurry the 
soul to ruin. The deep-rooted selfishness of the fallen 
heart says, 'There is no God' (Ps. xiv. 7). The wicked 
bravado of insolent pride says within his heart also, ' There 
is no fear of God before his eyes' (Ps. xxxvi. 1). The 
horrid cravings of sensuality beg for their indulgence with 
importunate yells, and the poor soul knows hardly what to 
do. * Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water- 
spouts : all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me ' 
(Ps. xlii. 7). The windows of heaven are the rational 
faculties of the soul. These are given to let in heavenly 
light. In an orderly state they are indeed the windows of 
heaven. The divine light of truth shines freely in. They 
are the eyes of the soul. But in sore temptation, at these 
same windows, false reasonings enter. Infidel spirits, per- 
haps infidel books and infidel friends, supply waterspouts 
of specious conclusions, all at the time seemingly power- 
ful, weighty, with much truth in them, but all dishonoring 
to God, and degrading to man. Logic, appearing to the 
sad and darkened mind irresistible, seems to prove evil 
good, and good evil, religion to be only superstition, heaven 
a dream, hell a bugbear, virtue a farce, and all the glorious 
order of the universe a mere fortuitous jumble of atoms, 
brought together by blind chance, or equally blind neces- 
sity. Added to this, there is the rain, the unceasing pat- 
tering of false teaching from companions and associates, 
plying the spirit day by day with the scornful word, the 
vile jest, the wild jeer, the frequent invitation, the con- 
stant persuasion to wrong-doing, and often the bitter 
denunciation of the virtuous as hypocrites; the withering 
sarcasm, which, like storms of hail, comes down on the 
wearied, almost despairing soul with cruel force ; all these 
make a storm — a flood of overwhelming force. Happy is 



80 CALL TO THE HEW JERUSALEM. 

he who has a heavenly ark at hand, in which he can take 
refuge and be saved. 

"At the end of a church, the flood assumes fearful 
power. Books of an irreligious character abound. The 
church has first perverted the truth, and taught the tra- 
ditions of men for the commandments of God. Puerile 
superstitions are common, from which the reason of man- 
kind revolts. Morals are relaxed. Religious teachers are 
too often unworthy of their name and office. They have 
devised some scheme which they call religion, which dims 
the holy light of that truth which says, 'Do justly, love 
mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.' 

" Others originate a philosophy which tries to make the 
universe a self-acting machine — a science very learned and 
very laborious, but learned and laborious about trifles; 
dwelling for ever on forms of speech, but overlooking the 
sense, the soul of speech ; solemnly and devotedly engaged 
on worms and butterflies, on the affinities of atoms, and 
the measurement of angles, but seldom entering upon 
those aspirations of the angelic nature within, which raise 
us from creeping through this outer life the denizens of a 
day, to soar into the glorious regions of light and love, 
which give us affinities with the holy and the true of all 
ages, and enable us to become of the measure of a man, 
that is, of an angel. 

"Thus was it in the middle and latter half of the last 
century. At the time when the Lord revealed to man, 
through Swedenborg, the truths of the New Dispensation, 
iniquity abounded. Love waxed cold. Faith was scarcely 
to be met with anywhere. Works of amusement were dis- 
gustingly vicious. From royal circles down to the poorest 
hovels, vice under ten thousand forms reigned almost un- 
challenged. Alison, the historian of that period, thus 
describes it: < Man's connection with his Maker was 
broken by the French apostles of freedom: for they de- 
clared there was no God in whom to trust, in the great 
struggle for liberty.' 'Human immortality,' says Chan- 



THE FLOOD OE WATERS. 81 

ning, ' that truth which is the soul of all greatness, they 
derided. In their philosophy man was a creature of 
chance, a compound of matter, a worm soon to rot and 
perish for ever. At last came the revolution, with its dis- 
asters and its passions, its overthrow of thrones and altars, 
its woes, its blood, and its suffering.' In the general 
deluge, thus falling upon a sinful world, the mass of man- 
kind still clung to their former vices. They were, as of 
old, marrying and giving in marriage, when the waters 
burst upon them, but an Ark of Salvation had been pre- 
pared by more than mortal hands. The hand on the wall 
had unlocked the fountains of original thought. The 
Lord at such seasons reveals New Truths from heaven, 
and Old Truths in a new light. These serve as an Ark 
of safety for the humbly good, who can then say, ' If it 
had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men 
rose up against us : then they had swallowed us up quick, 
when their wrath was kindled against us: then the waters 
had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: 
then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be 
the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth ' 
(Ps. cxxiv. 2-6). ' The floods have lifted up, Lord, the 
floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their 
waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of 
many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea'" 
(Ps. xciii. 3, 4). 

XVI. 
The Ark. 

(WRITTEN BY THE REV. WM. B. HAYDEN.) 

" A FTEB having seen the kind of Flood which devas- 
_i_A_ tated the earth in those early days, suffocating the 
spiritual life of man, and actually sweeping off multitudes 
of the human race through the intensity of their own vices 
and lusts, it will be the more easy to understand the 
meaning of the Ark which Noah was commanded to build. 



82 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

The Ark has ever been a type of salvation. It is both a 
type of what man has to do for himself, in the way of 
building up a right frame of spirit and a holy character, 
in co-operation with the Lord; and also of that Divine 
care and protection watching over the believer, shielding 
him in temptation, and bearing him safely through the 
storms and trials of life, which the Lord ever vouchsafes 
to his faithful followers. 

" The little ark of bulrushes was employed to protect and 
save the infant Moses from the suffocating waters of the 
Nile. The Ark which Moses afterwards was commanded to 
construct, according to the heavenly pattern shown him in 
holy vision in the Mount, received the two tables of the 
covenant, and after being placed in the most holy place in 
the Tabernacle, became thenceforward the type of Salva- 
tion to the Jews, the symbol of the Divine presence 
among them. And when the Apostle John, in Patmos, 
saw the Temple of the Tabernacle in heaven opened, he 
saw the holy Ark of the Covenant resting there in its 
place. 

" The Tabernacle in the Wilderness and the Temple of 
Solomon signified similar things. We know with what 
particularity the building of these is described in the 
inspired narrative : all the dimensions of the former being 
specially commanded. We know that both those build- 
ings represented the Lord our Saviour in His redeeming 
work, wherein the Humanity which he assumed having 
been glorified by Him, became ever after the Temple of 
the Living God and the supreme -Ark of our eternal 
salvation. 

" In His parable at the close of the Sermon on the Mount, 
the Saviour tells us how we may build upon the rock a 
house unto eternal salvation. It is by faithfully doing the 
sayings which we learn of Him, exemplifying them in the 
life. If we do not obey His precepts, we build on the sand, 
constructing a house that will not stand against the flood— 
forming a character, that is, which cannot resist tempta- 



THE AKK. 83 

tion, but which will inevitably fall and be swept away 
whenever assailed from without. 

" When therefore we consider the moral necessities of 
those very ancient times — human society being beaten 
upon by an overrunning flood of falsities and evils, we can 
readily understand the kind of building required to pro- 
tect the good men of that time from being overwhelmed 
and swept away in the common destruction. It was some- 
thing to take care of their moral habits, to shield their 
religious character, and secure their spiritual regeneration. 

" Hence, in a collective sense, the Ark there meant was 
the church; and in an individual sense, each man or 
member of the church. 

"In providing for the spiritual safety of the small rem- 
nant who were willing to remain obedient in that trying 
time, the Lord gave a Eevelation of such truths as were 
needed for the times; enough for thorough instruction 
and guidance. The church, called Noah, ' was a preacher 
of righteousness,' and therefore taught its members to 
build on the right foundation. Like the ancient Egyp- 
tians, as well as all the earliest oriental peoples, it 
expressed its sacred truths by hieroglyphics. And the 
people among whom they taught perfectly understood 
them. The commandments concerning the building of 
the Ark, therefore, were to them a continuous parable, 
the moral of which they clearly saw and applied to heart. 
They learned them as commandments applying to their 
repentance, regeneration and spiritual life, and heeded 
and obeyed them accordingly. They saw how each de- 
tailed instruction applied to some trait of thought, feeling, 
or action, and so became a living divine rule for the regu- 
lation of their conduct. As they looked upon the picture, 
they saw it as a divine allegory, and beheld in it an im- 
pressive embodiment or programme of their Whole Duty, 
both to God and man. They knew that in obedience — - 
in entering into the Ark or Covenant, there was safety. 
While to remain out of the line of duty in that corrupt 



84 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

time was to be out of the ark, which was sure destruction 
to their souls. They needed the constant instruction and 
influence of a divinely-founded church. 

"As the curtains, cedar boards, veils, candlestick, and 
gold and silver things of the Tabernacle, each represented 
some holy truth or good connected with our Saviour and 
His work of redeeming grace, so each thing that is said to 
have entered into the construction of the Ark by Divine 
command, as the gopher wood, the mansions, stories, 
door, and window, represents some definite truth or good 
connected with man's regeneration and spiritual life. A 
lucid exposition of their meaning may be found in the 
first volume of the ' Arcana Coelestia,' by Emanuel 
Swedenborg, which cannot fail to throw light upon the 
spiritual experiences of the reader; and so, although 
intended for those very ancient and childlike people, may 
be of great practical value to-day and to us. 

"Beasts are the scriptural types or emblems of man's 
affections, while the birds, or 'fowls of the air/ are 
typical of his thoughts, which are more soaring and irreg- 
ular in their flight. 

"We can see therefore what is meant by the clean beasts 
and clean fowls which were to be gathered into the Ark 
in sevens. They are the purified affections and purified 
thoughts of the upright or regenerated man. And again, 
we can see, too, that whereas unclean beasts and unclean 
birds were likewise gathered in, though in single pairs, 
that human nature then was as it is now. The church 
had its imperfections. Church members had something 
of the natural man still about them, their lower nature, 
the 'law of sin' in the members. Nevertheless, as the 
'clean beasts' were to predominate in the Ark, so the 
spiritual man, or spiritual part of man, was to bear rule in 
the church ; and its unclean things, through divine grace, 
kept in subjection and subordination. 

"The 'door,' the 'window,' the sending forth of the 
raven and the dove, as well as every circumstance related, 



THE AKK. 85 

when understood aright, or according to the science of 
correspondences, conveys its beautiful and instructive 
lesson. 

" Thus far, we have not alluded to the scientific and 
other difficulties which surround the literal interpretation 
of this account of the Ark, nor do we intend to enlarge 
upon them. They come more and more into view as the 
subject is carefully studied. They strike different minds 
as of different degrees of importance. But there can be 
no doubt that of late, in the full blaze of all that modern 
research has disclosed on the subject, thoughtful minds 
everywhere are sore pressed for an adequate solution. 

" The incapacity of the Ark, from its size, to contain all 
the kinds of animals and birds, with food for a year ; its 
want of light and ventilation; the wide dispersion of 
animals over the globe, their variety of climate, and the 
impossibility of collecting them from such immense dis- 
tances in so short a time ; are among what, to most minds, 
seem to be the insuperable difficulties in the way of a 
literal belief in the narrative. 

" It ought therefore to be a satisfaction to every rational, 
devout, and believing mind, that the history is found to be 
constructed like a prophetic writing; divinely inspired, 
but giving the spiritual history of those times in a parable 
or allegory, in unison with the universal mode of writing 
in those very ancient or hieroglyphical ages." 



"Dear reader, in the foregoing pages concerning the 
Flood and Ark, we have wished to raise your views from 
carnal and curious speculations to spiritual and profitable 
ideas. You will be assailed by a flood, if you have not 
hitherto experienced its wild waves. False sentiments and 
deep trials await all persons at some periods of their lives. 
The Floods will come in upon your soul, and without a 
proper Ark, you must spiritually be drowned. Our Lord, 
at the end of His grand sermon on the mount, taught 



86 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

both of those who heard His words and did them, and of 
those who did them not, 'the rain descended, and the 
floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that 
house' (Matt vii. 24-27). 

"Have you pondered upon this? Are you prepared 
with your ark ? Are you clear in your own mind as to 
what you are to expect, and what you are to do ? Kemem- 
ber the same waves which overwhelmed the ungodly bore 
up 'the ark. The streams of iniquity will surge across 
your path and all around you, in the days of temptation ; 
for this has been the experience of the servants of God in 
every age. See how pathetically the Psalmist describes 
the experience of the good but tried ones of his day : 
'When the waves of death compassed me, the Floods of 
ungodly men made me afraid: the sorrows of hell com- 
passed me about: the snares of death prevented me: in 
my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: 
and He did hear my voice out of His temple, and my cry 
did enter in His ears ' (2 Sam. xxii. 5-7). 'He sent from 
above, He drew me out of many waters; He delivered me 
from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me; 
for they were too strong for me' (ver. 17, 18). Strange, 
wild, false states, like stormy waters, come to trouble us 
again and again. They assail our belief in God, in His 
providence, and in His care. They pour out strange 
phantasies and blasphemies against revealed religion, and 
against our Saviour. They increase for a time in virulence 
and power. They rage, and howl, and roll on, strange and 
dark, like the awful roll of waves mountains high. But 
be not afraid. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust 
in Him. Look up. Have faith, and persevere. He is the 
1 Divine man, God become a man, to be known to you and 
to save you. Thus it is written, < A man shall he as a 
hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tem- 
pest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as a shadow of a 
great rock in a weary land' (Isa. xxxii. 2). 

" Look in prayer and love to this living, loving, man- 



THE ARK. 87 

ifested God. He will teach you how to make an Ark. He 
will give you the pattern, the directions, and the mate- 
rials. No storms can destroy those who trust in Him. 
They will seem at times to be in great danger. The awful 
roll and roar of the storm will threaten to overwhelm 
them, but they are really quite safe. The ark of the 
Divine religion of the Lord Jesus, with its three stories, 
will never give way. You will be straitened for the time, 
but safe. 'The Lord sitteth upon the Flood; yea, the 
Lord sitteth King for ever. The Lord will give strength 
unto His people: the Lord will bless His people with 
peace' (Ps. xxix. 10, 11). < For this shall every one that is 
godly pray unto Thee, in a time when Thou mayest be 
found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not 
come 'nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding-place : Thou 
shalt preserve me from trouble : Thou shalt compass me 
about with songs of deliverance ' (Ps. xxxii. 6, 7). 

"How many thousands around us do we see engulphed 
in horrid streams of infidelity, falsehood, and corruption, 
in their thousand forms! Let us point all to the Ark of 
Safety. The three grand principles of love, faith, and 
obedience, accepted from the Lord Jesus, will rescue every 
one. Let us then love Him with all the heart, dear 
reader. He is our Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator. 
He will never forsake you, but love, enlighten, and bless 
you. Have faith in Him. You are in His world. All its 
laws are under His command, and in His good time the 
storms will cease, the winds will howl no more, the Flood 
will no more threaten. Obey Him, and you will soon find 
life improving around you. You will come into enlight- 
ened freedom. The truth will make you free. The nar- 
row bounds of the Ark, which once contained and saved 
you, but yet confined you, will let you come forth in 
safety, and the whole world will be a grander ark, in which 
you will be perfectly safe, while you are enjoying its bless- 
ings and adoring its Maker."— Rev. Dr. Bayley. 



88 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

XVII. 

The Tower of Babel. 

*' And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and 
burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime 
had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city 
and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven ; and let us make us 
a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole 
earth." — Gen. xi. 3, 4. 

*' T IKE the garden of Eden, the Tower of Babel," says 
I J the Eev. Dr. Bayley, " has been a puzzle to geogra- 
phers who look to the literal sense of the Bible alone. 
They have sought for its remains in different regions, but 
with most unsatisfactory results. 

" If the sacred writings had only represented the people 
as designing to reach heaven by a tower, it would have 
been difficult for rational belief; but when it proceeds to 
state that the Deity came down and felt it necessary to 
stop their efforts by rendering them unintelligible to each 
other, surely it must induce every thoughtful person to 
say, this cannot be literal, this must have another signifi- 
cation. 

" But, it must not be forgotten, that if the ages of these 
early personages were the ages of individuals (and not, as 
they really were, descriptive of communities, called by 
single names, as Israel was for more than a thousand 
years), then Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, must have 
been among these people. They had come down from 
the mighty Ararat, more than three miles high. Could 
they have so childish a conceit as that they could reach 
heaven by a brick building, in a plain or a valley, when 
they had not found it in the regions of perpetual snow ? 
Surely, if its forming part of that primeval history which 
we have seen, in relation to the other great subjects, can 
only be allegorically or spiritually understood, did not 
lead us to a spiritual sense, the inevitable difficulties of 



THE TOWER OF BABEL. 89 

the letter in this instance alone, would lead us to look for 
some higher, some interior meaning. In this case, as in 
the others we have treated, we must say to the biblical 
student, ' Come up higher, friend.' 

"We have mentioned that, like the site of Eden, the 
position of this tower has greatly perplexed the curious. 
It is like Eden with its Tree of Lives, in another respect. 
Paradise has a leading position at the beginning of the 
Bible, and we find it again in the last book (Eev. ii. 7; 
xxii. 2). It is thus represented as the blissful state from 
which men fell, and as that which, by regeneration, they 
will again attain. Iu both, a spiritual blessing, not a 
natural place. So with Babel, it is here as the symbol of 
pride, building up superstition to scale heaven in its own 
way. It is the same in the book of Eevelation. There, 
Babylon the great is the symbol of a selfish and super- 
stitious church, a prostitution of religion, by mysterious 
doctrines and priestly craft, to the awful purpose of lord- 
ing it over men's souls, as well as their bodies. No one 
supposes that Babylon in the Book of Eevelation means 
an earthly city ; why then assign that meaning to Babel 
here? 

" Let us turn now to the same history as opened by the 
divine science of correspondence, or analogy, revealed 
through Emanuel Swedenborg. The whole earth is said 
to be of one language, and of one speech. The earth, as in 
other cases, means the church, especially as to its external 
principles, worship, and practice. The earth at this time 
is said to have had one language, and the speech one, or 
as the latter part may be rendered, the icords united, or 
made one (debarim echadim) ; because the church is rep- 
resented in a state of charity and harmony. Where love 
rules, there unity prevails. Even if doctrines differ, kind- 
ness can find sentiments sufficiently in common to harmo- 
nize men's minds. When love animates and directs them, 
the tone of all and of each is directed to the production of 
use. Their language is one, and their words are one. 



90 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

" But we are in formed these people went from the east, 
and they found a plain (or valley) in the land of Shinar, 
and dwelt there. 

" The east, in the divine language, is the symhol of a 
state of love to the Lord, because, in such a state of the 
heart, the Sun of righteousness, the Sun of the soul, 
arises, and gives its beams of light and warmth over the 
mind. Eden is said to be eastward (Gen. ii. 8). 

"Valleys are the symbols of the lower affections of the 
soul, and mountains of the higher. Hence w T e read of the 
' valley of bones' (Ezek. xxxvii. 1), which the prophet 
addressed, and which symbolized the natural mind full of 
the skeletons of religious teaching, long uncared for. The 
Psalmist blesses those who, passing through the valley of 
Baca (or weeping), make it a well; or, in other words, 
who are brought into troubles and sorrow externally, but 
make these the means of opening in themselves that well 
of salvation, whose bright waters sparkle with hope and 
consolation — that water of truth, which springs up for- 
ever, to quench the thirst of the faithful soul (John vii. 
37, 38). 

"When they are described as coming into a little broken 
valley, in the lion land, and dwelling there, it is to inti- 
mate that they had departed from their first love, and 
sunk into low and carnal states, in which they rejected all 
real high principles, all real goodness, which is the only 
real greatness, and boldly determined to make a religion 
for themselves, outwardly of the same appearance as 
before, but inwardly devoted to their own glorification, 
and to the gratification of spiritual pride. This is to leave 
the glorious mountains of the east, and to dwell in a little 
broken valley of our own, in the land of the lions, or 
Shinar. 'My soul is among lions/ David- said, 'and I lie 
among them that are set on fire ' (Ps. lvii. 4). 

"'Let us build a city and tower, whose top may reach 
to heaven, and make us a name.' What a burst of arro- 
gance and self-sufficiency is here ! ' Let us build a city/ 



THE TOWER OF BABEL. 91 

let us construct a system of doctrine, let us make a church. 
The true church of the Lord is a city which comes down 
from heaven, 'the city of the living God, the heavenly 
Jerusalem' (Heb. xii. 22). 'Let us build a city,' let us 
contrive a scheme, say they, which shall profess to honor 
God and save souls, but which shall really 'make us a 
name.' Let us seek influence with all our might. Let us 
teach men that we are the mediators between them and 
God. We will induce the Deity to be propitious. We 
will forgive them their sins. We will teach them a way 
to be saved, although they cling to evil and despise such 
of the divine commands as interfere with their sins. 

" Let us now mark the materials which these Babel- 
builders used. ' And they had brick for stone, and slime 
had they for mortar.' Stone, as a natural production, 
affording a strong foundation, and the material for firm 
and solid walls, corresponds to truth ; Irick, as a human 
manufacture, and a substitute for stone, is the symbol of 
opinions fabricated by man's contrivance. 

" Truths will not serve the purpose of Babel-builders, so 
they make materials of their own ; brick have they for stone, 

"The false principles engendered by spiritual pride, 
which elevate man in the place of God, and substitute 
unintelligible ceremony in worship instead of enlightened 
adoration, are aptly represented by brick which the 
builders make themselves. Where, for instance, could 
the paraphernalia of superstitious religion — consecrated 
ground, holy water, sainted bones, etc., the worship of dead 
and living men, high-sounding names — His Holiness, 
Father in God, Eight Reverend Father in God, and such- 
like pompous titles applied to mortals quite as frail and 
feeble as others, be obtained, unless they had made them 
themselves ? The stones of divine truth would not do, and 
so they made brick. The whole of the persuasions which 
tend to the exaltation of priestly pride, are bricks of 
human contrivance substituted for the stones of a true 
spiritual building. 



92 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

"They said also, 'Let us burn them thoroughly.' Fire 
is the symbol of ardent affection. Heavenly fire is the 
affection to do good (Ps. civ. 4). The fire of hell is the 
affection or lust for doing evil (Isa. ix. 18; Jas. iii. 6). 
The fire which burned these bricks was the intense desire 
for power over men's souls, which produces zeal for self, 
not for God. It is amazing with what ardor the lust of 
spiritual dominion will work. It will compass sea and 
land to make a proselyte. It will both do and suffer much 
more than true religion requires, to accomplish its insane 
ends. 

" When truths are the stones, the love of truth is the 
cement which unites them firmly together. Truths with- 
out love are like stones without mortar, loose and devoid 
of strength. However much a man knows, if he lacks the 
love of the truth, he has no saving strength in the sight 
of Heaven. But the uniting principle among Babel- 
builders is merely the lust of being worshipped by others, 
and is therefore described by slime. Nothing is so unclean 
as the love of self in its varied forms. It spurns the chaste 
delights of marriage, and longs to wallow in the impurities 
of adultery. Out of the evil heart comes all that really 
defiles a man. His dreams even reek with defilement. 
From such a state the Psalmist rejoiced to be delivered : 
' He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the 
miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my 
goings ' (Ps. xl. 2). The wall, like the tower, is a system 
of falsehood; the untempered mortar, like the slime, means 
the impure affections which sustain it. 

"How diligently the laborers work at their tower! 
They teach, they preach, they indoctrinate, they counsel. 
They parade their mysterious powers, they decry reason, 
they insinuate that science is of very doubtful character. 
Religion is an awful mystery, and they are its only ex- 
pounders. The people would certainly destroy themselves, 
if they ventured to investigate and decide for themselves. 
Pray and pay, are enough for the people. Happily, how- 



THE TOWER OF BABEL. 93 

ever, He who keepeth Israel never sleeps, and He comes 
down to see the city and the tower. 

" The Lord is said to see, when He makes it manifest to 
His creatures that He sees. Undoubtedly, He who fills 
heaven and earth is present everywhere, and knows all 
things. But, when He manifests Himself to man, He 
seems to come down to him, and when He shows that He 
knows, it appears to us that He then first observes. It is 
in this way the Lord is said to have come down to see the 
city and the tower which the children of men builded. 

" He is divinely careful of human freedom and human 
progress. And when a system, fraught with peril to both, 
has proceeded so far as fully to unfold its noxious charac- 
ter, then is the time for infinite goodness to act. Midnight 
has come over the mind, and it is time to commence the 
morning. Man's necessity is God's opportunity. The 
trumpet of judgment sounds. God reveals His light to 
some minds capable of better things, and His truth flashes 
conviction. The tower of superstition totters. Men feel 
that God is there. He has come down to their states, and 
they see, as it were, His lightning striking their lofty 
structures, and hurling them to the dust. 

"The confounding of the languages represents the dif- 
ferent doctrines which arise when a spiritual despotism is 
exposed and overthrown. The system in which men have 
apathetically trusted, having been shown to be fictitious, 
and hurled down, its former adherents know scarcely what 
to do. They are thrown upon their own resources, and 
those resources are most scanty. They have been trained 
in lies, and the rational faculty, the true servant and repre- 
sentative of divine truth in the soul, has been systemati- 
cally neglected, or crushed. The unregenerate heart, the 
most fruitful source of malignant error, has been unpuri- 
fied by the sacred streams of heavenly wisdom, and it 
mixes itself largely in the general turmoil, and the result 
is confusion, which the word Babel in Hebrew means. 
They do not understand each others doctrines, they op- 



94 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

pose and fly from each other. They are no longer united 
for despotism, nor are they united at all. The tyranny of 
the priesthood is broken; and innumerable sects are 
formed. In the turmoil of the universal fray, different 
nations seize upon different dogmas, and form them into 
separate churches. The wildest notions are taken up, 
some by one party, some by another. The whole structure 
is broken down into fragments, each land holding a lan- 
guage, a doctrine of its own, and excommunicating the 
others. Such was the Babel of modern times, and such 
was that of the ancients, represented in the Babel before 
us." 

XVIII. 
Sun "Worship and Idolatry. 

THE origin of Idolatry has been a mystery, but the 
writings of Swedenborg have thrown a flood of light 
upon this subject. The science of correspondences be- 
tween natural and spiritual things, revealed by the Lord 
therein, is the key which unlocks the mysteries not only 
of the Word, but also of the World, enabling us to read its 
past history and view its present state in a new light. Let 
us remember, then, that this science was once understood 
by all men who were living upon the earth, and it will be 
seen that remains of it must be found everywhere among 
all nations now, either handed down by tradition, or em- 
bodied in their religious ideas, and even in their every-day 
language. 

Swedenborg, in his work on " The Sacred Scriptures," 
says : " The reason why the idolatries of the Gentiles of 
old took their rise from the science of correspondences 
was because all things that appear on the face of the earth 
have correspondence; consequently, not only trees and 
vegetables, but also beasts and birds of every kind, with 
fishes and all other things. The ancients, who were versed 
in the science of correspondences, made themselves images 



SUN" WOKSHIP AND IDOLATRY. 95 

which corresponded with heavenly things, and were greatly 
delighted with them by reason of their signification, and 
because they could discern in them what related to heaven 
aud the church. They therefore placed those images not 
only in their temples, but also in their houses ; not with 
any intention to worship them, but to serve as means of 
recollecting the heavenly things signified by them. Hence 
in Egypt, and in other places, they made images of calves-, 
oxen and serpents, and also of children, old men, and vir- 
gins ; because calves and oxen signified the affections and 
powers of the natural man/' etc. 

" Succeeding ages, when the science of correspondences 
was obliterated, began to adore as holy, and at length to 
worship as deities, the images and resemblances set up by 
their forefathers, because they found them in and about 
their temples." — (Sac. Scr., p. 23.) 

"How deep, how full of wonder," exclaims the Eev. 
George Field, " are our feelings, when we contemplate the 
past; in passing with telescopic vision through the inter- 
mediate darkness, to see presented to our astonished gaze 
the glorious pages of a remote antiquity ; to behold again 
that wisdom so long lost to man, and esteemed by the 
ancients as the science of all sciences, of which the i key 
of knowledge ' opens and unfolds arcana which have been 
sealed for ages ; removes the veil of Isis, and passing the 
Sphynxes, enters the portals of the temple, over which 
may now be seen the changed inscription, ' Nunc licet' 
(now it is allowable). 

" Without this golden key, in vain are the memories of 
the past, or the records and traditions of primeval ages ; 
for though we possessed all the writings of antiquity, we 
could not read them." 

Speaking of the constellations of the zodiac he says : 

"Any one might know that there are not literally any 
such images in the heavens as are marked on the celestial 
globe ; neither do the stars really, by any effort of imagi- 
nation, look any more like the forms in which they are 



96 GALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

pictured, than they do like the letters which spell their 
names. Originally the natural heavens were no more 
thought of than we think of the state of the atmosphere 
when we tell an angry man that he is too warm, and 
had better keep cool; or than we think of a man's feet, 
when we advise him to walk in the way of the Lord. 
Natural images were horroiced as symbolical of spiritual 
ideas, from their correspondences, not because we think 
.about, or mean the letters or types, but those things 
which the types are used to represent. But in process of 
time, as men descended into more exterior states, this 
knowledge began to decline, and at last, instead of seeing 
it intuitively, it was studied as a science ; and thus, even- 
tually, instead of the stars and constellations being used as 
pure symbols, men thought that they were literally meant. 
Thus the stars (which correspond to the knoivledge of 
goodness and truth) were invested with a zone, or golden 
girdle, symbolical of the band of charity which united 
heavenly with earthly sciences, in the harmony of uni- 
versal truth and goodness, the music of the spheres; and 
in their relation to heavenly knowledges it is that, 

' In Reason's ear they all rejoice, 
And utter forth a glorious voice.' " 

SUK WORSHIP. 

"He who looks," says Swedenborg, "at things internal, 
from those that are external, when he views the heavens 
or sky, does not think at all of the starry heaven, but of 
the angelic heaven; when he beholds the Sun, he does 
not think of the Sun, but of the Lord, as being the Sun 
of Heaven. * * * * The reason why all and single 
things in the heavens or sky, and on the earth, are repre- 
sentative, is because they existed, and do continually 
exist, that is subsist, from an influx of the Lord through 
heaven." Consequently, " there is not a single object 
existing in the sky or in the earth, which is beautiful and 



SUN WORSHIP AND IDOLATRY. 97 

agreeable, but what is in some way representative of the 
Lord's kingdom," A. C. 1807. 

The natural sun corresponds to the Lord the spiritual 
sun ; its light and heat, correspond to the divine wisdom 
and love which are spiritual light and heat to our souls. 
The natural sun has been created from the spiritual sun, 
and there is a constant influx into it from the latter, 
which sustains its natural light and heat ; therefore the 
sun's rays are perpetual — forever. It will never fail. 

" The Sun, as we have seen, is representatively an image 
of the Lord, and is not only the centre, but, as it were, 
the creator, sustainer, vivifier and illuminator of its sys- 
tem: thus the sun is, in its degree to the earth, what the 
Lord is to man. The heat and light proceeding from the 
Sun, are representative of the Love and Wisdom emanat- 
ing from the Lord, the Sun of the heavenly world. As 
' God is a consuming fire,' and the fountain of light, so is 
the Sun in Nature. No one can see the face of Jehovah 
in His unveiled glory, without being consumed, or perish- 
ing in the intensity of that Infinite and uncreated celestial 
heat and light; so neither can any one behold the face of 
the Sun of nature, but through an attempering medium ; 
and then it is only in its outward brightness that the Sun 
is seen, which is but the glory of its radiant orb. So to 
angelic vision, the Lord appears, not as He is in Himself, 
but in His effluent glory; so ardent is the radiance of the 
Divine Love and Wisdom that its proximate sphere, or 
first proceeding emanation from the Lord, appears as a 
Sun, as the Sun shining in His strength." — Rev. G. Field. 

It will be seen that the Ancients did not worship the 
Sun, and only bowed to the natural as representing the 
spiritual, and through it worshipped the Lord. Nor has 
this idea fully perished at this day. The most sacred oath 
of the Mexican commenced with, "I swear by the life of 
the Sun." The Indian tribes of North America paid their 
religious devotions to "the great, beneficent, supreme, 
holy, spirit of fire " (the " Great Sun "), which, says Mr. 
5 



98 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

Schoolcraft, they regard "as the mysterious element of 
the universe, typifying Divinity." 

And Prescott, in his conquest of Peru, thus describes 
the great Temple of the Sun : " The most renowned of the 
Peruvian temples, the pride of the capital, and the wonder 
of the empire, was at Ouzco, where, under the munificence 
of successive sovereigns, it had become so enriched that it 
received the name of Coricancha, or the ' Place of Gold.' 
It consisted of a principal building, and several chapels 
and inferior edifices, covering a large extent of ground in 
the heart of the city, and completely encompassed by a 
wall, which, with the edifices, was all constructed of stone. 
* * * The interior was literally a mine of gold. On 
the western wall was emblazoned a representation of the 
Deity, consisting of a human countenance, looking forth 
from amidst innumerable rays of light, which emanate 
from it in every direction, in the same manner as the Sun 
is often personified with us." 

The wise men from the East who followed the Star, 
and visited the new-born child at Bethlehem, were, with- 
out much doubt, from among those denominated Sun- 
worshippers. But did they worship the material sun ? 
According to Herodotus, the Persians, who pre-eminently 
are supposed to have been Sun-worshippers, worshipped on 
the tops of mountains, and were not permitted to pray for 
themselves alone, but were bound to offer their supplica- 
tions for all others, but especially for the Persians and 
their king. Herodotus continues: "When the person 
who offers the sacrifice has cut the victim into small 
pieces, and boiled the flesh, he lays it on a bed of tender 
grass, especially on trefoil, and after all things are dis- 
posed, one of their Magi, or wise men, standing up, sings 
an ode addressed to Deity ; which last ceremony they con- 
sider as an indispensable rite of their worship, and it is 
never omitted." Herodotus says they sacrificed to the 
Sun. "It is but fair to state this," says a recent writer, 
"because, in the letter, it affords some ground for the 



SUN WORSHIP ASTD IDOLATRY. 99 

assertion that tkey adored material objects; but other 
proof will be given — and is also fairly deducible from the 
language of Herodotus, as expressed above — that the Per- 
sians, from the highest point of their mountain-worship, 
elevated their thoughts and their affections, or prayers, to 
the Only God ; that they looked upward through the sun 
of earth, as the highest created type of the Sun of heaven ; 
thus to their Creator and Preserver, to whom the wise and 
holy men who conducted the worship, directly addressed 
their worship and sung their ode." 

Joseph von Hammer, one of the first Orientalists of our 
later times, declares that the ancient Persians were neither 
Sun nor Fire-worshippers, but believers and adorers of a 
Supreme Being; that they regarded the sun of this world 
merely as the highest emblem of the Divinity; through 
which emblem, or type, they addressed their devotions to 
the Grod of Heaven, in whom they believed, and in whom 
they trusted. 

Jacob Bryant, the author of a work entitled " A New 
System, or an Analysis of Ancient Mythology," first pub- 
lished in 1774-1776, treats very fully of the religious 
character of the ancient nations ; and some of his declara- 
tions go far to establish the belief, which we cannot avoid 
considering as most just, that the religion taught by the 
Zoroasters and accepted by the Persians and Parsees was 
neither materialistic nor idolatrous, but that it incul- 
cated, for thousands of years, the belief in a Supreme 
Being, the Source of life and Author of all things made or 
created. There are strong reasons for the belief that the 
Persians were the last people who became idolatrous. Mr. 
Bryant, in his " immortal work," quotes Otanas as saying 
that there had been a true notion of the Deity transmitted 
by Zoroaster, and maintained by the Magi, after the rest 
of the world had become shrouded in moral darkness. 

The more fully we come to understand and carefully 
examine the religions of all nations, the more evident it is 
that in them we have the remains of a once true religion — 



100 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

a knowledge of the Lord and of the life which leads to 
happiness and heaven — and the remains of a once univer- 
sal science, or that of the correspondence between natural 
and spiritual things, in accordance with which Divine 
revelations have been given to man. The men of the 
Golden Age, or of the Most Ancient or Adamic Church, 
which existed before the fall and deluge of falses and evils, 
as we have heretofore stated, according to the revelations 
made through Swedenborg, had direct revelation from the 
Lord, open vision into the spiritual world, and perceived 
the correspondence between spiritual and natural things. 
All natural objects represented things pertaining to the 
mind of man, and had a spiritual signification, and mani- 
fested the wisdom and love of their Creator. Nor has this 
knowledge entirely perished at this day from the language 
and perceptions of men, however little they may realize its 
wonderful significance. 

A distinct moral character is possessed by every animal. 
" So distinct is this," says a recent writer, "that their very 
names have become expressive of their characters, and are 
used as adjectives. Lion-like, fox-like, bearish, lamb-like, 
wolfish, dogged, suggest distinct ideas from the distinct 
characteristic of each of these animals. We use such 
adjectives to describe the characters of men, because we 
perceive the inevitable analogy existing between animals 
and men. Man's moral nature is seen to include all these 
dispositions; and as any one of them acquires an undue 
predominance, so the man is described. The animals are 
each a distinct incarnation of one human quality. Man is r 
the embodiment of all animal qualities and characteristics. 
He is the comprehensive aggregate of all. They are the 
incarnated integers. Ferocity, possible to man, is the very 
nature of the wolf. Cunning, possible to man, is the very 
nature of the fox. Innocence, possible to man, is the very 
nature of the lamb. Imitation, possible to man, is the 
very nature of the monkey. Poetry has made such analo- 
gies familiar to every one, and universal perception has 



SUN WORSHIP AND IDOLATRY. 101 

confirmed and adopted them. Birds have, in like manner, 
furnished similar analogies to man's mental nature. All 
the world has seen the analogy between keen perception 
and the hawk, vain-show and the peacock, soaring intellect 
aud the eagle ; nor have men been slow to admit the ex- 
quisite correspondence of turtle-doves, nor the image of 
selfish shrewdness in the cuckoo. Languages have been 
formed of, and records conveyed by, such analogies, and 
the wisdom of centuries has been communicated by such 
inscriptions. Such a doctrine of analogy it is, that alone 
explains the origin, or accounts for the dissemination, of 
divination, magic, witchcraft, astrology, the prevalence of 
charms or the universality of sacrifices. 

"The analogy between our natural senses and spiritual 
faculties has been long observed. We see truth, we hear 
laws, we weigh arguments, we have mental tastes. Truth 
is mental light, love is spiritual heat. We are inflamed 
with passion and chilled by antipathy, we warm to a sub- 
ject, and we freeze towards individuals. Natural qualities 
are analogous to spiritual qualities. Reproaches are stab- 
bing, couched in cutting words, pangs are bitter, and op- 
pression is grinding ; feelings are lacerated by stinging 
sarcasms, and we are melted into tenderness by soft com- 
passion." — Rev. John Hyde. 

But with the decline of our race, when men began to 
love themselves supremely instead of the Lord and their 
neighbor, the perception of truth and of correspond- 
ences faded gradually; then especially, during the days 
of the church of Noah, the wise men began, for the sake of 
preserving a knowledge of the Lord, true ideas concerning 
Him, and of a true life, to study and store up in their 
memories the spiritual significations of natural things, and 
to teach them to their children, and to write them down ; 
and finally to form images to remind them of spiritual 
things, not with any thought of worshipping such images, 
for such worship only resulted when the true spiritual 
signification was lost. Thus has originated sutt-worfhip 



102 CALL TO THE KEW JERUSALEM. 

and all forms of Idolatry, and this is the reason why they' 
are so universal. The mysteries, rites and ceremonies of 
Masonry have had a similar origin. It was long anterior to 
the days of Solomon that wise men cultivated a knowledge 
of correspondences, and of the one God, and a good life; 
and for the sake of preserving this knowledge as pure as 
possible, they transmitted it secretly to their successors. 

Mythology has had the same origin; that is, it has 
arisen from the science of correspondences, and can only 
be interpreted correctly in accordance therewith, although 
more or less perverted and superficial, like all the writings 
and works of man, when compared with the Word and 
works of God. In the better and early ages of the world 
men regarded spiritual knowledge as being far more 
important than natural knowledge; therefore they were 
disposed to talk and write in correspondential or allegorical 
language. It is for this reason that the earliest writings 
are allegorical ; even the history of Rome, traced back, 
ends in a myth. 

But the question will doubtless arise with many: "If 
the first chapters of Genesis, the book of Revelation, the 
parables of the Lord, and other portions of the Word, are 
allegorical, or composed and not real histories, bearing a 
resemblance, to say the least, to the mythological writings 
of the ancients, how are we to distinguish between what 
writings are Divine revelations and what are merely 
human productions ?" On a very superficial, and without 
a somewhat careful examination, this might be as difficult 
as it would be to distinguish at a distance, and on such an 
examination, between either a nicely painted and dressed 
manikin or a mere figure of a man and a real living man ; 
certainly not more difficult than it is to distinguish be- 
tween a selfish, sensual man, whose chief delight is his 
own gratification, and the true God-serving man, who 
delights in doing good to others, and conscientiously does 
what is just and right. We distinguish a real man from 
the most careful man-made image, by discovering evi- 



STO WOESHIP AND IDOLATKY. 103 

dences of life in the one, and in every part, even the most 
minute, and all parts connected, and acting harmoniously, 
which we do not find in the other. So, to distinguish 
between the bad and good man, we must read the real life 
of each as manifested in looks, speech and acts. The 
Lord when on earth declared: "It is the spirit that 
quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I 
speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." Here 
then lies the grand distinction between the Word of God 
and the words of man ; the one is living, having a spiritual 
sense running throughout containing infinite treasure of 
spiritual wisdom; there are no real contradictions, no 
conflict, no jar in the spiritual sense — it is one woven 
from the top throughout; whereas in the mythological 
writings of men, there is no connected spiritual sense — no 
infinite treasures of wisdom; there is a lack of Divine 
harmony and unity — they are man-made. The reader has 
only to carefully read the writings of Swedenborg, to see 
how wonderfully clear is the distinction between the sacred 
Scriptures and the writings of men, and to be able to 
perceive clearly that the former are indeed Divine, special 
revelations given for the good of man, and even angels, 
for we read, " Thy Word, Lord, is established forever 
in the heavens." 

That there were other sacred writings or revelations 
given to the ancients, besides those contained in our Bible, 
is manifest from the quotations contained in the Scrip- 
tures from such works ; and it is certain that some of them, 
at least, were prophetical and composed histories or were 
allegorical, similar to the first chapters of Genesis. 

Thus says Swedenborg : " The saying that the sun stood 
still upon Gibeon and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, 
signified that the church was entirely vastated as to all 
good and truth. For a battle was then fought against the 
king of Jerusalem and the kings of the Amorites ; and by 
the king of Jerusalem the truth of the church entirely 
vastated by falsities is signified, and by the kings of the 



104 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

Amorites is signified the good of the church vastated by 
evils. Therefore those kings were smitten with hail- 
stones, by which are signified the horrible falsities of evil. 
It is said that the sun stood still and the moon stayed, that 
is, in the sight of the children of Israel, that they might 
see their enemies; but this was prophetical, although 
historically related, as may appear from the circumstance 
that it is said, 'Is not this written in the booh of JasherV 
which was a prophetical book out of which these words 
were taken. From this same book therefore it is said too, 
1 Until the nation was avenged upon its enemies,' and not 
until the children of Israel were avenged upon their 
enemies, for the word 'nation' is said prophetically. 
The same is evident moreover from the consideration that 
this miracle, if it had been just so accomplished, would 
have inverted the whole order of nature ; which the other 
miracles in the Word would not have done." 

We fancy that the reader will be a little better able to 
understand how the Divine love and wisdom, denoted in 
correspondential language by the sun, which combine in- 
finite mercy, and a true faith signified by the moon, ceased 
to progress in the hearts and intellects of these cruel, bar- 
barous men who were relentlessly killing each other, even 
killing their helpless captives in cold blood, than how the 
natural sun and moon stood still, or the earth stopped 
turning on its axis. There ever flow down to man from 
the Lord, love, mercy, and truth; it is man that perverts 
these heavenly influences into hatred and falsehood, until 
at length he becomes so vastated of all goodness and truth, 
by a life of evil, that he sees falsehood as truth, and acts 
of cruelty, when they gratify his selfishness, as good. 

In regard to these ancient revelations not embodied in 
our Bible, Swedenborg says : 

CONCERNING THE ANCIENT WORD WHICH IS LOST. 

"The religious systems of many nations are derived 
from that Word, and were conveyed from the land of 



SPIRITUALISM. 105 

Canaan, and from many parts of Asia into Greece, and 
thenca into Italy, and through Ethiopia and Egypt into 
certain kingdoms of Africa ; but in Greece they converted 
the correspondences into fables, and the divine attributes 
into so many gods, the chief of which they called Jove, 
from Jehovah." 

XIX. 

Spiritualism. 

~YT7~E must either deny the truth of the many relations 
VV of spiritual vision contained in the sacred Scrip- 
tures, and the reports and traditions of such visions exist- 
ing among all nations, or we must admit the possibility of 
man's having intercourse with spirits ; and if men have 
ever had such intercourse in the past, it would certainly 
seem possible for them to have such at this day; therefore 
we feel no disposition to deny any of the well attested facts 
of modern Spiritualism, although we must use our reason, 
enlightened by the revelations which the Lord has given 
us, to judge of its phenomena, as we have done in the case 
of the standing still of the sun and staying of the moon at 
the command of Joshua ; for we know that the world is 
full of truths which are only apparent, and not real truths, 
like the apparent passage of the sun around the earth; 
and many of these apparent truths can only be distin- 
guished from real truths by enlightened reason, and not a 
few of them by the aid of Divine revelation alone. Admit- 
ting, then, the possible reality of modern Spiritualism, 
after sifting out all deceptions and frauds, we know that 
all things are not as they seem to its advocates; and if 
Spiritualists will but read the writings of Emanuel Swe- 
denborg, they will find that there are many apparent 
truths in their philosophy, and they will also find a 
science which fairly underlies Spiritualism, written long 
before its phenomena commenced. 

But it is one thing to admit that it is possible at this 



106 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

day to hold intercourse with spirits, but it is quite another 
thing to admit that it is either well, safe, or desirable to 

do so. , . • ■ , . , 

Let us see what the Bible, that glorious volume which 
has come dowu to us from our fathers, which not only 
claims to be, but, as we have seen, is the Word of God, has 
to say on the subject of Spiritualism? From this book 
we learn that there is a spiritual world, and that it is pos- 
sible to see and converse with spirits, and that man has 
guardian spirits, and that there are evil or unclean spirits; 
and numerous examples or instances are given of open 
vision and spiritual communication, and even of men 
being possessed by spirits, so that Spiritualism is not 

new. 

But we hear from the sacred volume that there are two 
kinds of Spiritualism— if you please; one by Divine per- 
mission, protection, and guidance, in which the Lord and 
His angels manifest themselves to men, and reveal im- 
portant truths, and permit men to see the inhabitants of 
the spiritual world, as was the case with the prophets and 
disciples, and especially with John the Eevelator ; the 
individual man not having sought such intercourse, but 
seeming to have been chosen for his office, and only when 
some important knowledge or information for the good of 
his race was to be imparted by or through him. The 
second class of communications and spiritual phenomena 
would seem to be disorderly and evil, from the fact that 
they are prohibited by the Lord in the Old Testament, and 
that the Lord when on earth cast out the possessing 
spirits, in one instance permitting them to enter a herd of 
swine, the latter being among the lowest and most filthy 
of all animals, these possessing spirits choosing them for a 
habitation ; but it seems no good came to the poor swine, 
for according to the record it would appear that the whole 
herd ran down a steep place and perished in the sea. In 
the Old Testament we read : "Kegard not them that have 
familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards to be defiled by 



SPIKITUALISM. 107 

them. I am the Lord your God" (Leviticus xix. 31). 
" Aud the soul that turneth after such as have familiar 
spirits and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I 
will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him 
off from among his people' (Lev.^xx. 6). "There shall 
not be found among you any one that maketh his son or 
his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divina- 
tion, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or 
a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, 
or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an 
abomination to the Lord, and because of these abomina- 
tions the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before 
thee" (Deut. xviii. 10-12). "And when they shall say 
unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and 
unto wizards that peep and that mutter; should not a 
people seek unto their God ? for the living to the dead ? 
to the law and to the testimony? if they speak not accord- 
ing to this word, it is because there is no light in them" 
(Isaiah viii. 19, 20). Can it be that the Word of the Lord 
would so pointedly condemn seeking communications from 
spirits, even to the driving of nations out of their lands 
and cutting them off, if it were a harmless practice ? If it 
was an evil, and such a deadly one, to seek intercourse w T ith 
spirits several thousands of years ago, is it any the less 
wrong now? If obsession was so objectionable that the 
Lord, when on earth, drove out possessing spirits, and 
gave His disciples power over such spirits, should men and 
women to-day allow spirits to take possession of their 
bodies, and perhaps souls, and speak and write through 
them?. And should we, as rational beings, seek com- 
munications either through mediums, or directly from 
spirits, in defiance of the above warnings of Divine revela- 
tion ? These are questions well worthy of our most serious 
consideration, for our eternal welfare may depend, more 
than we imagine, on our decision, and consequent action. 
Is there any good reason why the Lord prohibited, 
under the most fearful penalties, the consulting with 



108 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

familiar spirits, or even with those who have such spirits ? 
What real objection can there be to our seeking open in- 
tercourse with spirits, and consulting and regarding those 
who can see and converse with spirits ? Surely, if it is 
wrong, there must t*e some good reason why it is so, 
which would appeal to our understandings. A great 
many intelligent men at this day, and who are not among 
the worst of men, have in a great measure outgrown 
authority; and, perhaps to a greater extent than they 
should have done, reverence for ancient dogmas. If 
Spiritualism, for instance, is objectionable and wrong, as 
the Bible plainly teaches, they want to understand the why 
and the wherefore. 

Let us then carefully examine this subject in the light 
of revelation and of reason. In the first Epistle of John we 
are directed to "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits 
whether they are of God ;" and the following is the crite- 
rion: "Hereby know ye the spirit of God; every spirit 
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is 
of God ;" and we are told that every spirit that confesseth 
not this doctrine is not of God. Now, how many spiritual 
mediums and communicating spirits are of God, according 
to this test ? In First Timothy we have a prediction ; the 
reader can judge whether it is being fulfilled at this day 
or not. We read: "That in the latter times some shall 
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and 
doctrines of devils." The divinely commissioned seer for 
the New Jerusalem dispensation, which is now being 
established on earth, Emanuel Swedenborg, assures us 
from actual observation in the spiritual world, and from a 
most intimate knowledge of the laws of that world, and 
of spiritual intercourse with and influx into this world, 
" that to speak with angels of heaven is granted to none 
but such as are grounded in truths originating in good, 
especially in the acknowledgment of the Lord and of the 
divinity in His humanity; this being the truth in which 
the heavens are established. For the Lord is the God of 



SPIRITUALISM. 109 

heaven ; the Lord's divine sphere constitutes heaven, and 
the Lord's divine sphere in heaven is love to Him and 
charity towards the neighbor derived from Him." It will 
here be noticed that Swedenborg's testimony is in strict 
agreement with the apostle John's statement. 

Swedenborg found in the spiritual world, and described 
carefully, three heavens, all the inhabitants of which 
acknowledged the Lord Jesus Christ as God, the sacred 
Scriptures as revelations from God, and were actuated in 
all they did and said by either love to the Lord, charity to 
the neighbor, or love of obedience to the Divine command- 
ments. He also found three other societies opposite the 
heavens, which he denominates hell, all the inhabitants of 
which deny the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, deny 
that the sacred Scriptures are the Word of God, and are 
actuated in all that they do by some form of selfishness, 
and deny the possibility of any one acting from any higher 
motive than a selfish motive. He found intermediate be- 
tween heaven and hell what he calls the world of spirits, 
which is the common receptacle for all men when they 
leave this world, where their ruling loves are developed 
and they are prepared to enter either heaven or hell. He 
assures us that the world of spirits is like this world, from 
which it is constantly being peopled, to a great extent, 
filled with lying and deceiving inhabitants, or spirits, 
who deny the Lord, the necessity for regeneration and 
heavenly truths. Unless guided and protected by the 
Lord and His angels, for a special purpose, a man, in 
open intercourse, simply comes in contact with his asso- 
ciate spirits, or those like himself, in a similar faith and 
life; consequently, when a man is believing false doctrines, 
and actuated by evil loves or perverted affections, if he has 
intercourse with spirits, he necessarily comes in contact 
with evil spirits. Therefore, says Swedenborg, "to speak 
with spirits is at this day rarely granted, because it is 
dangerous ; for the spirits then know that they are present 
with man, which otherwise they do not know, and evil 



110 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

spirits are of such a nature that they regard man with 
deadly hatred, and desire nothing more than to destroy 
him." Especially do they strive to destroy all heavenly 
truths and affections in his soul. Such destruction is 
spiritual death — not annihilation, but the death which 
was pronounced in Eden. 

Again, Swedenborg says : " It is believed by many that 
man may be taught of the Lord by spirits speaking with 
him; but they who believe and desire this do not know 
that it is connected with danger to their souls. So long 
as man lives in the world, he is as to his spirit in the 
midst of spirits, and yet the spirits do not know that they 
are with man, nor does a man know that he is with 
spirits. The reason is that they are conjoined imme- 
diately as to affections of the will, and mediately as to the 
thoughts of the understanding. For man thinks natu- 
rally, and spirits think spiritually; and natural and 
spiritual thought do not make one otherwise than by cor- 
respondences — and unity by correspondences causes that 
one knows nothing of the other. But as soon as spirits 
begin to speak with a man they come out of their spiritual 
state into the natural state of the man ; and then they 
know that they are with the man, and conjoin themselves 
with the thoughts of his affections, and from these speak 
with him. They cannot enter into anything else ; for a 
similar affection and consequent thought conjoins all, and 
a dissimilar separates. It is owing to this that the spirit 
speaking is in the same principles as the man, be they 
truths or be they falsities; and also that he excites them, 
and by his affection conjoined to the man's affection 
strongly confirms them. * * * From these considerations 
it is evident to what danger a man is exposed who speaks 
with spirits, or manifestly feels their operation. Man is 
ignorant of the quality of his own affection, whether it be 
good or evil, and with what other beings he is conjoined; 
and if he has a conceit of his own intelligence the spirits 
favor every thought that comes from it. So it is if any 



SPIRITUALISM. Ill 

one, inflamed with a sort of fire, has a leaning to certain 
principles; which is the case with those who are not in 
truths from a genuine affection. When a spirit favors a 
man's thoughts or principles, from a similar affection, the 
one leads the other as the blind leads the blind, until both 
fall into the pit. Such were the Pythonic (diviners) of 
old ; and also the magicians in Egypt and in Babylon, who 
on account of their converse with spirits, and on account 
of the operation of them upon themselves, manifestly felt, 
were called wise. But the worship of God was thereby 
converted into the worship of demons, and the church 
perished. For this reason such communications were 
forbidden to the children of Israel under penalty of 
death." 

Not only the church but those mighty nations perished 
also ; where are Egypt and Babylon to-day ? 

The first sentence of the following quotation from 
Swedenborgfs u Heaven and Hell" throws a flood of light 
on the subject of modern Spiritualism, the want of reli- 
ability and identity of spirits, etc., etc. 

" It is not lawful for any angel or spirit to converse with 
man from his own memory, but only from that of the 
man. For angels and spirits have memory as well as men ; 
and if a spirit were to speak with a man from his own 
memory, the man would not know but that the things 
which then became the subject of his thoughts belonged 
to himself, although they belonged to the spirit. This is 
like remembering a thing which, nevertheless, the man 
had never heard of or seen. That such is the fact has 
been given me to know by experience. This is the origin 
of the opinion held by some of the ancients, that after 
some thousands of years they should return into their 
former life, and into all its transactions, and that they 
actually had so returned. They drew this conclusion from 
the circumstance, that there sometimes occurred to them 
what seemed to be a remembrance of things which, never- 
theless, they had never seen or heard. This appearance 



112 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

was produced by an influx of spirits, from their own 
memory, into their ideas of thought." 

If we bear the above statement of Swedenborg in mind, 
we shall be the better able to appreciate and comprehend 
the following quotations from his writings ; and the reader 
will please remember that Swedenborg wrote about a cen- 
tury before " Modern Spiritualism " commenced ; and we 
here acknowledge that we are either directly or indirectly 
indebted to his writings, or to the Lord through his in- 
strumentality, not only for the quotations, but also for all 
the ideas contained in this section on Spiritualism, which 
have not been drawn from the sacred Scriptures. 

One of Swedenborg's immediate friends and followers 
suggested to him, or inquired of him, if it would not be 
well to omit his "memorable relations" of things seen 
and heard in the spiritual world, which are interspersed 
throughout his writings, as they tended to prejudice 
people against the doctrines of the New Jerusalem. His 
reply was, simply, that he was commanded to write them. 
We think it is not difficult to-day to understand why the 
Lord required him to write them, and the notes of in- 
struction and warning which they contain to us. Nor is 
it difficult to understand why he was permitted to expe- 
rience and detail many things for our enlightenment and 
warning which, to his acquaintances, must have seemed 
very strange and incomprehensible ; among which may be 
named: spirits writing through his hand, without his 
being conscious of what they wrote while they were 
writing; but he informs us that he was commanded to 
destroy all such writings, and not a line remains— only 
the suggestion which his statement conveys, which is a 
caution to us, if we are wise. 

Swedenborg informs us that spirits which have inter- 
course with man " know all the thoughts which the man 
himself knows, and also the smallest minutice of the 
thoughts and affections, which the man doth not know ; 
yea, such things as it is impossible for him to know in the 



SPIRITUALISM. 113 

life of the hody." And again, "They enter into all his 
memory, and into all the sciences of memory which man 
possesses ; thus they put on all things which are man's, 
insomuch that they know no other than that those things 
are theirs ; spirits have this prerogative above men ; hence 
it is that all things which man thinks, they think, and 
that all things which man wills, they will ; and vice versa, 
all things which those spirits think, man thinks, and all 
things which those spirits will, man wills ; for they act in 
unity by conjunction. Yet it is supposed by both parties 
that such things are in themselves, so spirits suppose, and 
so men ; but this is a fallacy/' — A. C. 5853. 

Again he says: "When similar things are called up in 
the memory of man, and are thus represented to them 
[spirits], they think they are the same person ; then all 
the things are called forth from the memory which repre- 
sent those persons, both the words, the speech, the tone, 
the gesture, and other things." "It has many times been 
shown to me that the spirits speaking with me did not 
know otherwise than that they were the men who were the 
subject of thought; and neither did other spirits know 
otherwise ; as yesterday and to-day, some one known to me 
in life (was represented by one), who was so like him in 
all things which belong to him, so far as they were known 
to me, that nothing was more like. Wherefore, let those 
who speak with spirits beware lest they be deceived, when 
they say that they are those whom they know, and that 
they are dead." 

"For there are genera and species of spirits of a like 
faculty; and when similar things are called up in the 
memory of man, and are thus represented to them, they 
think that they are the same person : then all things are 
called forth from the memory which represent those per- 
sons, the words, the speech, the tone, the gesture, and 
other things; besides that, they are induced to think thus 
when other spirits inspire them, for then they are in the 
phantasy of those, and think they are the same." 



114 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

Again Swedenborg says : " Sometimes it was shown to 
me by experience, that spirits were induced to believe that 
they were those persons about whose life and manners I 
was able to have some knowledge, and from this knowl- 
edge in my mind they induced other spirits to believe that 
they were these persons; they spoke in the same manner, 
had the same disposition, and many other like things. 
They were endeavoring even to make me believe that they 
were these persons ; but because I had learned that other 
persons may be personified thus perfectly by spirits, they 
could not impose upon me. 

" Wherefore let those be careful to whom it is granted 
to speak with spirits lest they believe that the spirits are 
those whom they pretend to be; for they are able to 
assume the likeness of any man which they find in the 
memory of the man with whom they are. That this is so 
may also appear from this circumstance, because such 
spirits are associated with men as are like them ; and when 
they are with men they do not know otherwise but that 
they are they."— {Spirit. Diary, 2686, 2687.) 

" The spirits attendant on those who are in Heresies, in 
Fallacies, and Illusions, as to the truths of faith, and in 
falses, are in the like, without the slightest difference. The 
reason of this is, that man may be in his freedom, and may 
not be disturbed by any propriety of a spirit." — A. C. 5860. 

The above statements are worthy of our most serious 
consideration; for, in their light, it is not difficult to 
understand why we should not seek open intercourse with 
spirits, if we would preserve our mental freedom, and retain 
our rational faculties unimpaired, and avoid being misled 
by presumptuous spirits. 

It will be seen that, according to the above statements, any 
spirit, if he can get access to our memory, either directly, 
or through a medium, can not only give us the names of 
our friends in the spirit world, but also personate them in 
every respect, even as to looks, handwriting, etc., etc. 

Again Swedenborg says: "That the things which I 



SPIRITUALISM. 115 

learned in representations and visions, and from discourses 
with spirits and angels, are from the Lord alone. When- 
ever there was any representation, vision, and discourse, 
I was kept interiorly and most interiorly in reflection 
upon it, as to what thence was useful and good, thus what 
I might learn therefrom; which reflection was not thus 
attended to by those who presented the representations 
and visions, and who were speaking; yea, sometimes they 
were indignant when they perceived that I was reflecting. 
Thus have I been instructed ; consequently by no spirit, nor 
by any angel, but by the Lord alone, from whom is all truth 
and good ; yea, when they wished to instruct me concern- 
ing various things, there was scarcely anything but what 
was false ; wherefore I was prohibited from believing any- 
thing that they spake ; nor was I permitted to infer any- 
such thing as was proper to them. Besides, when they 
wished to persuade me, I perceived an interior or most 
interior persuasion that the thing was such, and not as 
they wished ; which also they wondered at ; the perception 
was manifest, but cannot be easily described to the appre- 
hension/' — 8p. Diary, 1647. 

He says, "That spirits relate things exceedingly ficti- 
tious, and lie. When spirits begin to speak with man, he 
must beware lest he believe them in anything ; for they 
say almost anything; things are fabricated by them, and 
they lie ; for if they were permitted to relate what heaven 
is, and how things are in the heavens, they would tell so 
many lies, and indeed with solemn affirmation, that man 
would be. astonished ; wherefore, when spirits were speak- 
ing, I was uot permitted to have faith in the things which 
they related. For they are extremely fond of fabricating." 

In regard to the desirability of speaking with spirits and 
its influence on men, Swedenborg says : " Speaking with 
the dead would produce a like effect, as miracles, concern- 
ing which just above ; namely, that man would be per- 
suaded and driven to worship for a little time ; but 
because this deprives man of rationality, and at the same 



116 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

time shuts in evils as was said above, this enchantment or 
internal bond is loosed, and the evils shut in burst forth, 
with blasphemy and profanation ; but this takes place 
only when the spirits induce some dogma of religion, 
which is never done by any good spirit, still less by any 
angel of heaven."— D. P., 134. 

Swedenborg makes one statement which every man and 
woman will do well to heed, in order to keep out of 
danger, which is : If a man hears a spirit speaking to him 
it is not lawful for him to reply ; for if he does then the 
spirit knows that he is with man in this world, which 
otherwise he would not know, and could not injure the 
man. How important then that we never give the consent 
of our will by voluntarily attending " circles," " seances," 
the lectures of " trance speakers," etc., etc. Or if we have 
already done this, that we shun doing it again, lest we be 
led by evil spirits to doubt and deny the Divinity of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holiness of the sacred Scrip- 
tures ; and the necessity of regeneration, if we would enter 
the kingdom of heaven. 

XX. 

In "What Degree a Mediate Revelation, which 
is Effected by Means of the "Word, is Preferable 
to an Immediate Revelation, which is Effected 
by Means of Spirits. 

SWEDENBORG says : « It is generally believed that 
man might be more enlightened and become more wise 
if an immediate revelation was granted him by means of 
converse with spirits and angels ; but the reverse is the case. 
Illustration by means of the Word is effected by an interior 
way, whereas illustration by means of an immediate reve- 
lation is effected by an exterior way. The interior way is 
by the will into the understanding, the exterior way is by 
the hearing into the understanding. Man, by means of 
the Word, is illustrated by the Lord in proportion as his 



WHAT REVELATION IS PREFERABLE? 117 

will is in good ; but man by hearing may be instructed, 
and as it were illustrated, although his will is in evil, and 
what enters into the understanding in a man whose will is 
in evil, is not within the man but without him, and is 
only in his memory and not in his life ; and what is with- 
out man and not in his life is gradually separated, if not 
before, nevertheless after death ; for the will which is in 
evil either casts it out or suffocates it, or falsifies and 
profanes it ; for the will constitutes the life of man, and 
continually acts upon the understanding, and regards as 
extraneous what is derived into the understanding from 
the memory. On the contrary, the understanding does not 
act on the will, but it only teaches in what manner the will 
should act ; wherefore if a man knew from heaven whatever 
is known to the angels, or if he knew whatever is con- 
tained in the Word, and moreover all that is contained in 
the doctrines of the church, which the fathers have written 
and councils declared, and his will remains in evil, never- 
theless after death such a man would be regarded as one 
who knows nothing, because he does not will what he 
knows ; and whereas evil hates truth in this case, the man 
himself casts out truths, and in the room thereof adopts 
such falses as are in agreement with the evil of his will. 
Moreover, permission is not granted to any spirit nor to 
any angel to teach any man on this earth in divine truths, 
but the Lord himself teaches every one by means of the 
Word, and man is taught in proportion as he receives 
good from the Lord in his will, and he receives good in 
the same proportion as he flees evils as sins ; every man 
also is in a society of spirits as to his affections and as to 
his thoughts thence derived, in which society his mind is 
as it were present with them; wherefore spirits speaking 
with man, speak from his affections and according to them. 
"A man cannot converse with other spirits unless the 
societies in which he is be first removed, which cannot be 
done except by a reformation of his will; because every 
man is in society with spirits who are in the same religion 



118 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

with himself; wherefore when the spirits converse with 
him, they confirm whatever a man has made a part of his 
religion ; consequently enthusiastic spirits confirm what- 
ever is of enthusiasm with man ; Quaker spirits confirm 
whatever is of Quakerism; Moravian spirits whatever is 
of Moravianism, and so forth. Hence proceed confirma- 
tions of the false which can never be extirpated. From 
this it appears that mediate revelation, which is effected 
by means of the Word, is preferable to immediate revela- 
tion, which is effected by means of spirits. As to what 
regards myself, it was not allowed to take anything from 
the dictate of any spirit, or from the dictate of any angel, 
but from the dictate of the Lord alone." 

Spiritualists generally recognize and acknowledge most 
distinctly and clearly, in their conversation and writings, 
the great law of spiritual association or affinity ; that like 
dwell with like, and that like attract like, which Sweden- 
borg so fully illustrates in all his writings : consequently, 
that man, while here, attracts to himself spirits like him- 
self, both as to principles and life ; therefore, in open in- 
tercourse he only comes in contact with his like. Now, if 
they will stop and use the reason to which they appeal in 
the case of the Bible, they can but see the impropriety 
and danger of seeking intercourse with spirits. Let us 
look at this subject for a moment from their own stand- 
point, or the law of affinity, the truth of which they 
admit, in the light of reason ; for we fully agree with 
them that the sacred Scriptures even, in order that they 
may retain their hold upon an enlightened age as special 
revelations from G-od to man, must stand the severest 
tests of reason ; and we know that, when interpreted in 
accordance with the grand science of correspondences be- 
tween natural and spiritual things revealed through Swe- 
denborg, they will stand the test, and shine brighter and 
brighter as the ages roll on ; for the thoughts and affec- 
tions of the Creator are manifested alike in His Word and 
works, and can never conflict when correctly interpreted. 



WHAT REVELATION IS PREFERABLE. 119 

Can modern Spiritualism stand the tests of enlightened 
reason ? Let us see. 

If this life is but the beginning of an endless life, it is 
mauifest that doctrines, thoughts, words, and acts, which 
tend to subdue our evil inclinations, and to lead us to 
love the Lord and our neighbor supremely are of first im- 
portance, for they tend to unity and peace, happiness and 
heaven. But with multitudes to-day, selfishness and sen- 
sualism rule, and they mast be born again, or put away 
their supreme selfishness, and come to act from higher 
motives, or it is manifest that they can never enter the 
kingdom of heaven ; for heaven is not a pen or place into 
which a man can be let as a matter of favor. Heavenly 
principles must rule us before we can enter .the gates of 
the celestial city. Now, let the man who is ruled by 
either the selfish love of power or money, or who is vain, 
licentious, or given to drunkenness, jealousy, or envy, seek 
communications from spirits, and what is the inevitable 
result ? Please remember, like attracts like. Being swayed 
by evil motives, his associate spirits are necessarily evil, 
and evil spirits are in false doctrines, therefore they deny 
the divinity of the .Lord Jesus Christ, for they hate him; 
they deny the necessity for regeneration, in fact deny that 
man can live from any higher motive than selfishness; 
and, if the man hearkens to them, they will use every 
effort and art to hold him in his present state of life, and 
to destroy all reverence for the Lord, and the sacred 
Scriptures as special revelations from Him; for, if the 
man changes for the better, they are repelled and will have 
to leave him. Thus by seeking and hearkening to spirit- 
ual communications, the evil or unregenerate man con- 
firms himself in his evil loves ; his spirits justifying him 
by every seductive argument imaginable, and thus even 
the prospect of his future regeneration is materially les- 
sened, if not actually destroyed. Could a greater misfor- 
tune befall an evil man here below, than this ? Again, 
supposing a man has commenced living a new life, the 



120 



CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 



work of regeneration is not accomplished in a day; but 
regeneration results from the warfare of a lifetime. Little 
by little are his evil inclinations and thoughts put away; 
evil inclinations and thoughts are prompted by evil spirits, 
and supposing while temporarily harboring such, the man 
seeks and heeds communications from spirits, these evil 
spirits will necessarily use every art to destroy the new 
resolutions for a better life by, as rapidly as he will bear it 
denying all heavenly doctrines, and confirming him, it 
possible, in his evil states. Could a greater misfortune 
befall him ? Once more, there are three heavens, seen and 
carefully described by Swedenborg, within the reach of 
men, and whether a good man shall reach the lowest, 
middle or highest, depends upon the progress made here 
in the regenerate life. Supposing a good man, in a good 
state, seeks communications from spirits. His associate 
spirits are no better than he is, and open vision with them 
or communicating with them wiU tend to fix him in his 
present state of life, and prevent his progress towards a 
higher life ; thus checking the great work of regeneration. 
How serious the injury to the man ! 

But there is another view in the case of good men, or 
of those who reverence the Lord and His Word and 
who are striving to lead a good life in accordance with 
the Divine commands, seeking such communications. 
They have the Divine warnings sounding in their ears, 
and are consequently reasonably sure to have conscien- 
tious scruples when they seek such communications; and 
if so, they are, it would seem, almost necessarily brought 
in contact with evil spirits. The Christian, therefore, 
who, from the stand-point of a distinct recognition of 
the Lord and of Divine revelation, goes away into Spirit- 
ualism, and seeks communications from spirits, must run 
a fearful risk; and have we not good reason to fear, that 
he will fall to rise no more forever ? Whilst for those who 
have little or no reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
for the sacred Scriptures, there may be far less danger and 



WHAT REVELATION IS PREFERABLE. 121 

comparatively little harm from their seeking such inter- 
course, as they do not profane holy things. In fact, thou- 
sands of skeptics and naturalists have been convinced that 
they are to live after death, by the phenomena of Spiritual- 
ism; and finding the communications entirely unreliable 
and unsatisfactory, have turned to Divine revelation, and 
to the Lord, and thus have been led into the Lord's church. 
Here then is a use which Spiritualism is performing for 
many earnest seekers after truth ; and perhaps this may 
be one of the reasons why it is permitted by the Lord. 
But, oh, how unwise is the man who rests satisfied with 
the phenomena and revelations of Spiritualism, when 
they should lead him up to the feast of fat things, and wine 
on the lees, or to the spiritual good and truths revealed by 
our Heavenly Father in the Divine "Word, and in the 
writings for the New Jerusalem ! 

The following statements by Swedenborg appeal to our 
highest reason : " Good spirits and angels," he says, never 
induce any dogmatic principle of religion, " for the Lord 
alone teaches a man, though mediately, through the Word 
in illumination." " Nor do they say anything which takes 
away the freedom of reason," such as dictating or attempt- 
ing to control his actions, for this would impair his man- 
hood if he were to obey such dictations; only evil spirits 
attempt such interferences with man's freedom and 
reason. 

In conclusion, we will ask the reader if enlightened 
reason, and even the common sense with which God has 
endowed man, do not condemn in the most earnest and 
positive manner the seeking of open intercourse with 
spirits, or the obtaining communications from them? 
The sacred Scriptures, as interpreted in the writings of 
Swedenborg, reveal to us a knowledge of a higher and 
nobler life than it is possible for our associate spirits to 
comprehend or unfold to us ; and if any one is anxious or 
curious for a knowledge of the spiritual world, or of 
spirits, or even of modern Spiritualism, according to the 
6 



122 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

best of our judgment, after a careful examination of the 
whole subject, he can only obtain reliable information by 
reading the writings of the Swedish seer. For him the 
Lord had a special mission; he sought it not, but he was 
called to it by the Lord Himself, and he cheerfully forsook 
his scientific and worldly pursuits, and, guided by the 
Lord and His angels, he devoted his life and means to 
writing and circulating his works. How important was 
his mission, if a reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ, or 
even for a personal God and His Word, is to remain with 
men, Spiritualism is now making manifest in one direc- 
tion, and Naturalism or Scientism in another. 

In a small work on " Intercourse between the Soul and 
Body," Swedenborg says : " That there is a spiritual world 
in which are spirits and angels, distinct from the natural 
world in which men are, has hitherto been deeply hidden, 
even in the Christian world. The reason is, because no 
angel has descended and declared it, and no man has 
ascended and seen it. Lest, therefore, from ignorance 
concerning that world, and the uncertain faith concerning 
Heaven and Hell that results from such ignorance, man 
should be infatuated to such a degree as to become an 
atheistic naturalist, it has pleased the Lord to open the 
sight of my spirit, and to elevate it into Heaven, and also 
to let it down into Hell, and to exhibit to its view the 
quality of each. It is thence manifest to me that there 
are two worlds which are distinct from each other ; one in 
which all things are spiritual, which is thence called the 
spiritual world, and another in which all things are 
natural, which is thence called the natural world; and 
spirits and angels live in their own world, and men in 
theirs; and also that every man passes by death from 
his own world into the other, and lives therein to 
eternity." 

Writing within a few years after the opening of his 
spiritual sight, he said: "For several years I have now 
almost continuously conversed with spirits and angels, 



APPEAL TO SPIRITUALISTS. 123 

and they with me. In this manner I have been instructed 
respecting the state of souls after death ; respecting the 
divers sorts of spirits who seduce man ; respecting Hell, 
and its various and cruel afflictions and punishments ; 
respecting the heavens and the felicity of the souls which 
are there ; respecting true faith and the interior senses." 

The Lord punishes no one, but evil carries with it its 
own punishment in that world as it does in this. From 
the doing of evil suffering inevitably results — evil the 
cause, suffering the effect. Hell-fire is self-love perverted. 



XXI. 

An Appeal to Spiritualists in behalf of the 
Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. 

(a large portion op this section was first written for 
. and published in "the banner of light.") 

WE ask of you, fellow-citizens, children of the same 
Heavenly Father, journeying toward the mansions 
of the spiritual world, to lay aside for a few moments — 
if you are troubled with any such infirmities — prejudice, 
preconceived opinions, and the spirit of sect or party — a 
very difficult thing, we know, for most men to do — and to 
consider for a short time the claims of the Swedish seer to 
your attention, and compare them with those of modern 
seers and mediums, and then judge for yourselves. For 
the truth we should all seek, for the truth alone can make 
us free from the mistakes of ignorance, the snares of 
bigotry and sectarianism, and the dominion of evil. It is 
of no moment to us that we should be able to confirm 
ourselves in our present views; for, although it should 
gratify our vanity, it might do us great harm ; but it is of 
vast moment that we should seek and find the truth, and 
be able to see truth in the light of truth, and to live in 
accordance with it. Those truths and that system of 
truth are the most important to us which will lead us to 



124 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

the best and highest life. It is a glorious maxim which 
Sweden borg proclaimed when he declared that "All re- 
ligion has relation to life, and the life of religion is to do 
good." It is not to arouse the spirit of controversy, which 
is latent in every man, that we write these pages, for such 
a spirit judges and condemns opposite views before it 
understands them ; no seeker after truth should do this, 
and no truly wise man will do it. 

Emanuel Swedenborg, the seer, a native of Sweden, lived 
and wrote the wonderful revelations contained in his 
writings about a century ago. He was one of the most 
celebrated philosophers of his day; well and thoroughly 
educated in his youth, he devoted his life and best energies 
to philosophical pursuits, and the application of scientific 
principles to the mining and business affairs of his native 
land. He wrote extensively on the economy of the animal 
kingdom, and the animal and mineral kingdoms, and a 
goodly number of his philosophical works have within a 
few years been translated into English, and are found to 
contain the germs of many of the discoveries of a later 
date. His writings show that he was accustomed to ob- 
serve closely and watch patiently and carefully, and to 
draw rational conclusions from the operations of Nature. 
With a mind thus trained and disciplined by study, and 
an active life of usefulness, at the age of fifty-seven years 
he commenced his spiritual writings ; and for over twenty- 
seven years he claimed to have open intercourse with the 
spiritual world; to see and converse with spirits and 
angels face to face, as man converses with his fellow-man 
here, and that daily, not in a state of sleep, but of most 
perfect wakefulness; claims which, when we consider 
their length, breadth and duration, no other man does or 
ever has made, or can make with any show of justice. 
Although written a century ago, long before the appear- 
ance of modern Spiritualism, there is scarcely a phase of 
the latter which is not noticed and described in his writ- 
ings, and of much of it, the underlying philosophy is 



APPEAL TO SPIRITUALISTS. 125 

given ; yes, far more than this, the most wonderful events, 
even revolutionary changes, are carefully described as they 
occurred in the spiritual world, and were witnessed by 
him at the time he wrote ; and whole kingdoms in the 
spiritual world are described, of which modern mediums 
as a general rule evidently know little and have appar- 
ently seen less. He declares that he witnessed the Last 
Judgment in the world of spirits in the year 1757, and he 
has given us a careful description of the same. What has 
astonished us more than anything else, is the apathy and 
neglect with which the writings of this grand old seer 
have been regarded by the great mass of Spiritualists ; and 
affectionately and earnestly to call their attention to them, 
is our sole object in writing this section. 

Even the sectarian enemies of Swedenborg have never 
questioned his intelligence, his honesty or truthfulness, 
for his life was blameless ; with them he was insane, or a 
visionary, who was himself deceived by his imagination. 
No intelligent Spiritualist should or can for a moment 
justly harbor such objections without first reading his 
writings, for to do so would be to condemn his own faith, 
and justify the blind opponents of that faith in their oppo- 
sition to it. A man should not oppose without being able 
to give a reason. 

In one respect — to which we desire especially to call the 
attention of the reader at this point — Swedenborg stands 
out boldly as the prince of seers. The son of a clergyman, 
reared and educated in an orthodox church, busy with 
literary and scientific pursuits up to the very hour of the 
opening of his spiritual vision, we would reasonably have 
expected that the faith of his fathers, and preconceived 
ideas, would have colored his writings and revelations ; 
but in many respects his doctrines are not in harmony 
with those in which he was educated, or with those which 
prevailed at the time he wrote in the religious world 
around him. The doctrines inculcated in his writings do 
not agree with those in very many particulars, and Swe- 



126 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

denborg expressly teaches that the First Christian Church 
had come to its end through evils of life and a falsification 
of doctrines. How wonderful that a man should be able 
to so perfectly lay aside his preconceived ideas, and to sink 
himself, as it were ! And although he spent his time and 
money freely in writing, printing, and circulating his 
works, he did it anonymously until near the close of his 
life, when, at the earnest solicitation of his friends, his 
name was published on the title-page of the " True Chris- 
tian Religion," simply : " By Emanuel Swedenborg, servant 
of the Lord Jesus Christ." He did not desire men to 
receive the revelations made through and by him on his 
authority, but they were to be received because they are 
perceived to be true. Such were his views. 

"No man who has ever read Swedenborg's writings can, 
for a moment, question but that, if there is any truth in 
Spiritualism, or if any man has ever had intercourse with 
spirits and the spiritual world, either recently or in the 
Bible days, Swedenborg surely had; and it would seem 
that his writings are entitled to a respectful consideration 
from every one, especially from Spiritualists. A philoso- 
pher by nature and long practice in the natural sciences, 
even his spiritual writings are philosophical and beauti- 
ful beyond comparison ; order and system reign supreme. 
The laws of the spiritual world ; the resurrection from the 
dead; the state of man after death; the association of 
spirits with men; spiritual vision and conversing with 
spirits ; the relation which the deeds of this life have to 
the state of man after the death of the body; spiritual in- 
flux, and the correspondence between natural and spiritual 
things — are all explained, illustrated, and demonstrated 
with a power and force which, it is safe to say, have never 
been surpassed or even equalled in any particular; and 
which have in the past carried, and are to-day carrying, 
conviction to the minds of thousands who have never wit- 
nessed any of the spiritual manifestations. No attentive 
reader of his writings doubts the possibility of spiritual in- 



APPEAL TO SPIKITUALISTS. 127 

tercourse, or that many of the present manifestations are 
from spirits, for they most wonderfully confirm his state- 
ments of the laws of the spiritual world, and of spiritual 
intercourse. 

Many of you, at first sight, may be disappointed at the 
ideas which he proclaimed; but you will find many of 
them new, and all of them worthy of the most serious 
consideration. With Swedenborg a personal God is the 
centre, and special revelations from Him, or the sacred 
Scriptures, are the ladder let down from Heaven to earth, 
on which the angels ascend and descend to man. Modern 
Spiritualists too frequently ignore a personal God, and ail 
special revelations from God. 

In the science of correspondences, revealed through 
Swedenborg, we have the key for the rational interpre- 
tation of the sacred Scriptures, so that we can know that 
they are revelations from God, for we can intellectually 
see that the interpretation is true. In the light of this 
newly revealed science the skeptic is disarmed, and revela- 
tion and reason, the Bible and science, are reunited ; and 
God is shown or clearly manifested in the person of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father in the Son. As we have 
already intimated, in a previous section, the day is not far 
distant when the Bible will be reverenced as it never has 
been before, as men begin more and more clearly to see 
that the letter, which to-day killeth, is but the covering 
or clouds for the spirit which giveth life, and that God's 
Word differs as much from the words of man, as God's 
works do from the works of men. 

Even Nature can never be fully understood, so long as 
this "science of all sciences" is not recognized. Our 
scientific men are too many of them wandering on in the 
dark, ignoring the world of causes, or the spiritual side of 
nature ; but it will not always be so. 

In the writings of Swedenborg we are taught that love 
to the Lord and neighbor constitute heaven, and love of 
self and the world constitute hell ; therefore, man being 



128 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

born into selfish natural affections, must be born again 
before lie can enter Heaven ; in other words, by shunning 
evils as sins against God, and living a life according to 
His commandments, the old ruling selfish loves must be 
subdued, and heavenly affections take their place. Spirit- 
ualism generally teaches progression instead of spiritual 
regeneration ; and too many of its advocates deny the 
necessity for regeneration. With Swedenborg the Lord 
Jesus Christ is the chief corner-stone of the New Jerusa- 
lem, and a special providence is clearly and beautifully 
taught, whereas Spiritualists, with but few exceptions, 
deny the divinity of the Lord, and all special provi- 
dence. 

If Spiritualists would either understand the signs of the 
times, or obtain reliable knowledge of the spiritual world, 
let them read Swedenborg's writings; and there is no 
reason why all men should not read them, as increasing 
thousands are doing. God's truth, like the light of the 
natural sun, is free to all. The idea of a new revelation 
from the Lord sounds strangely to the man steeped in 
naturalism, and to the bigot, although the Lord promised 
a second coming in the clouds of heaven — not of earth; 
but it should not to Spiritualists. Was there ever a greater 
need of a revelation of genuine spiritual truth than at this 
day, when the simple precepts of the Gospels have been 
made of non-effect by the doctrines and traditions of men, 
until multitudes are expecting to escape the consequences 
of an evil life by a simple act of faith or belief, instead of 
expecting to reap what they have sown ? Has the Lord 
forgotten His children ? Lo ! He comes to the Christian 
world in an unexpected hour and manner, as he came at 
the end of the Jewish dispensation. Does He find faith 
on earth? Let those who are watching for the morning, 
judge. 

In concluding this appeal we will say, that if you will 
carefully read the writings of Swedenborg, we can but feel 
that you will be satisfied that he was selected by the Lord, 



NEW JERUSALEM DOCTRINES.— GOD. 129 

as a man through whom he could reveal to men the 
science of correspondences, the spiritual sense of His 
Word in accordance with this science, true doctrines; or 
the truths of His Second Coming in the clouds of heaven ; 
together with the actual state of man in the spiritual 
world. And you will be further satisfied that Sweden- 
borg was permitted by the Lord to enjoy privileges such as 
no other man has ever enjoyed, and such as we have good 
reason to expect that no other man will enjoy for many 
centuries to come, at least. 

You can hardly fail to be satisfied that the revelations 
made through Swedenborg are immeasurably better calcu- 
lated to benefit man, and elevate our race, than are the 
revelations and phenomena of modern Spiritualism. 

XXII. 
Doctrines of the New Jerusalem. — God. 

THAT there is but one God, in one Divine person, 
is clearly taught in the first commandment, and 
throughout the sacred Scriptures, when they are correctly 
understood. When the Divine declaration was made: 
"Hear, Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah," it 
was not a truth then for the first time revealed ; for it was 
well known by the Most Ancient or Adamic Church, and 
also by the Ancient or Noachian Church, that there is but 
one God ; and, as all the inhabitants of the world have 
descended from the members of those ancient churches, 
some knowledge of this grand central truth, more or less 
obscured by the doctrines of men, is to be found in the 
earliest religious or sacred writings and traditions of all 
nations. 

This one God is thus described in the Vedahs : " ' Per- 
fect truth; perfect happiness ; without equal ; immortal: 
absolute unity; whom neither speech can describe, nor 
mind comprehend; all -perva ding ; all-transcending; * 
* * understanding all. Without cause, the first of all 



130 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

causes; all-ruling; all-powerful; the Creator, Preserver, 
Transformer of all things; such is the Great One, Brahm.' 
This is in reality no other than a paraphrase of the 
<I AM;' but, says Mr. Squier, 'The supreme God of Gods 
of the Hindus was less frequently expressed by the name 
Brahm than by the mystical syllable O'M, which corres- 
ponds to the Hebrew JEHOVAH' (or AM). The same 
Divine Being, as to His infinite and eternal essence, is 
described on Egyptian monuments, and in the Hermetic 
books, as Kkeph, ' the first [or inmost quality of ] God, 
immovable in the solitude of His Unity, the fountain of 
all things, the root of all primary, intelligible, existing 
forms, the God of Gods/ The same idea prevailed among 
all the Scandinavian nations ; and in the ancient Icelandic 
mythology He is called 'the author of everything that 
exisfceth ; the Eternal, the Ancient, the Living, the Awful 
Being, the Searcher into concealed things, the Being that 
never changeth.' By the ancient Mexicans He is called 
the 'Creator of Light,' the 'Giver of Life,' the God of 
battles or ' God of Hosts,' the ' Almighty,' etc. ' Also as 
the ' Supreme Lord of the Universe ; the Disposer, and 
Ordainer of all things; the Confounder of His enemies, 
the Bestower of Wisdom, the Father of mankind,' " etc. 

The Ancient Druids taught that "There is but One 
Supreme Being, the Creator and Governor of the Universe, 
of an eternal, mysterious, and immaterial nature, which 
pervades all space. In Him consists the plenitude of life, 
knowledge, power, and love, which are sources of all His 
actions and dispensations. These being in themselves 
most beneficial and harmonious, necessarily tend to anni- 
hilate the power of evil, and bring man to everlasting 
happiness." 

With the North American Indian are found the remains 
of this doctrine, for he worships the Great Spirit, the Cre- 
ator of all things on earth, and the "beautiful hunting- 
grounds " to which his fathers have gone. 

We have already alluded to the fact, that all this knowl- 



NEW JERUSALEM DOCTRINES. — GOD. 131 

edge of God has come from revelations from God, made in 
the early ages of the world, and is not of human invention 
or discovery. "Revelation," says Rev. John Hyde, "must 
reveal God and explain man. Nature does not teach the 
existence of God. That is, the origin of the idea is not 
attributable to the nature of the universe, or the nature of 
man. Nature is the plane of effects, not of causes. The 
consideration of effects can carry us no higher than effects, 
the first effect and the final natural cause. The idea of 
God's existence being known, nature can abundantly fur- 
nish man with illustrations of Divine operation, and 
proofs of the Divine continuance. Atheists assert them- 
selves careful students of nature, and in spite of the exist- 
ence and predominance of the idea among men, they 
testify that nature does not teach or communicate it. Yet 
it is. The idea exists. If nature taught it, they say 
nature taught a lie. If nature did not teach it, and could 
not teach it, it must have been taught of revelation. 
Admit their testimony, and we must deny their conclu- 
sion. But all will admit that if God communicates a 
revelation, he must reveal Himself. Nature does not 
teach the object or the destiny of man's existence. The 
cradle and the grave are its limitations, the twin bounda- 
ries that circumscribe our being. If a revelation be given, 
it must transcend external and visible nature, and teach 
us wisdom on s^er-natural subjects. These must be the 
themes which it will treat, and subordinate to these 
themes must every statement, every precept, every narra- 
tive be. If God has given a revelation of Himself, of 
man's nature, and of man's destiny, this Revelation must 
as evidently be the Word of God. as external nature is the 
Work of God." 

If now we return to the sacred Scriptures, we shall find 
the unity of God most clearly and beautifully taught; and 
also that He is our Saviour, and the Being whom we are 
to love supremely ; for the following command is given by 
this one God : " Thou shalt have none other gods before 



132 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

me;" and again in the sixth chapter and fifth verse of 
Deuteronomy: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy might." That this one God is our Saviour, is abun- 
dantly taught in almost innumerable passages in the Old 
Testament, as in the following, in the forty-third chapter 
of Isaiah: "Thus saith the Lord that created thee, 
Jacob, and He that formed thee, Israel, fear not ; for I 
have redeemed thee." " For I am the Lord thy God, the 
Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." " Before me there was 
no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, 
am the Lord; and beside me there is no Saviour." In 
the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah we read, " That ail flesh 
may know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour, and thy Re- 
deemer, the Holy One of Jacob." Also in the forty-fifth 
chapter : " There is no God else beside me, a just God and 
a Saviour, there is none beside me. Look unto me, and 
be ye saved, all the ends of the earth : for I am God, and 
there is none else." In the third chapter of Second Sam- 
uel, we read : " The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and 
my deliverer ; the God of my rock ; in Him will I trust ; 
He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high 
tower, and my refuge, my Saviour." In the nineteenth 
Psalm will be found the following : " Let the words of my 
mouth, and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in 
thy sight, Lord, my strength and my Redeemer ; " and 
in the one hundred and thirtieth Psalm we read: "Let 
Israel hope in the Lord ; for with the Lord there is mercy, 
and with Him is plenteous redemption, and he shall 
redeem Israel from all his iniquities;" and in the thir- 
teenth chapter of Hosea : " Yet am I the Lord thy God 
from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but 
me, for there is no Saviour beside me." 

We have quoted comparatively few of the numerous 
passages which clearly teach us that there is but one God, 
and that He is our Saviour, and that there is no other 
Saviour. And in the eighth verse of the forty-second 



THE INCAKNATION". 133 

chapter of Isaiah, He distinctly declares : " I am the Lord : 
that is my name : and my glory will I not give to an- 
other." 

But we have predictions in the Old Testament of the 
coming of a Saviour, and all Christians acknowledge, that 
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ those predictions 
were fulfilled. Let us inquire then, whether the Jehovah, 
or Lord and Saviour, of the Old Testament is the Saviour 
of the New Testament, or whether He has given His glory 
to another, contrary to His express declaration. In order 
to settle satisfactorily this point we shall need to examine 
the prophesies in regard to the coming of the Saviour into 
the world. 

XXIII. 

The Incarnation. 

" "T)XTT," say some, "it is contrary to the laws of Nature 
1) for a child to be horn without a natural father," 
and thus, without further consideration, they decide the 
question. If it were certain that they understood all the 
laws of nature, their conclusion would be reasonable, and 
undoubtedly correct; for we do not for a moment suppose 
that the Lord violates His own laws. But, in the light of 
known and acknowledged facts, let us examine this ques- 
tion. Science shows conclusively that the time has been 
when no man or animal lived on this earth, and now it is 
peopled with men of various races, and there are also 
a great variety of animals. It follows that not only man, 
but a pair — a male and a female — (and perhaps several of 
them) were actually created without either a natural 
father or mother : now, if the above objection to the idea 
of the Incarnation holds good, what a tremendous viola- 
tion of the laws of nature there was in the creation of the 
first pair — four times as great at least as the incarnation 
of the Lord by a natural mother. It matters not whether 
man was originally created in the human form, or was 



134 CALL TO THE NEW JEEUSALEM. 

gradually developed from the lower forms of animal life, 
the creation of the first pair of animals, however low in 
the scale, without natural parents, was as much a violation 
of the laws of nature, as the creation of the human body 
in the present form. But, for ourselves, we can see no 
good reason why man was not created in the human form ; 
for it is not in accordance with what we know of " the 
Laws of Nature" to suppose that either men or animals 
were created full grown; and man commences from a 
point or cell as small as many of the animals. But the 
origin of man, or how he was created, is a question foreign 
to our present inquiry; and as the Lord has not revealed 
to us the ultimate truths of Natural Science, we shall 
leave this question to scientists to investigate and specu- 
late over to their hearts' content, and if they ever deter- 
mine it to the satisfaction of our reason, we shall accept 
their conclusions without any hesitation, for we shall ever 
strive not to let preconceived ideas stand between us and 
the truth. 

That a son should have been born of Jewish parents — 
and illegitimate at that, and thus inheriting specially a 
tendency to the violation of the most sacred relation of 
life — who, at the age of about thirty years, should be 
able to proclaim such precepts of life as the Lord Jesus 
Christ did, and set such an example of meekness, for- 
bearance, and good will, would certainly have been a far 
greater violation of the laws of nature, or of hereditary 
transmission of inclinations, than was the Incarnation of 
the Lord. 

We think, then, we may safely and absolutely dismiss 
the objection, that the Incarnation was a violation of the 
laws of nature, as not worthy of further consideration ; 
but in doing this we cheerfully admit that there certainly 
are some laws of nature which we do not fully understand, 
and others of which we know very little. 



THE INCARNATION. 135 



WHY THE LORD CAME TO THIS EARTH. 

The second objection which we hear against the doc- 
trine of the Incarnation, is : " "When we behold the bound- 
less extent of creation, the innumerable worlds which exist, 
many of which at least we have every reason to think are 
peopled by human beings, is it reasonable to suppose that 
the Lord selected and came down to this little insignifi- 
cant world of ours to be Incarnated, to the neglect of all 
others ? " This at first sight would seem to be a serious 
objection, but it is very satisfactorily answered in the 
revelations made by the Lord through Emanuel Sweden- 
borg, as follows : 

" There are many reasons why it pleased the Lord to be 
born and to assume the Human on our earth and not on 
another, concerning which I have been informed from 
heaven. The principal reason was for the sake of the 
Word, that this might be written in our earth, and being 
written might be published throughout the whole earth, 
and once published might be preserved to all posterity ; 
and that thus it might be made manifest, even to all in 
the other life, that God was made Man. That the prin- 
cipal reason was for the sake of the Word, was because the 
Word is the very Divine truth, which teaches man that 
there is a Gfod, that there is a heaven, that there is a hell, 
and that there is a life after death ; and teaches, moreover, 
how he ought to live and believe that he may come into 
heaven and thus be happy to eternity. All these things 
without revelation — thus on this earth without the 
Word — would have been entirely unknown ; and yet man 
is so created that as to his internal man he cannot die. 
The Word could be written on our earth, because from a 
very ancient time the art of writing has existed here, first 
on tablets of wood, then on parchments, afterwards on 
paper, and finally (writing came) to be published by types. 
This was provided of the Lord for the sake of the Word. 
* * * The Word once written could be preserved to 



136 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

all posterity, even for thousands and thousands of years ; 
and it is known that it has been so preserved. It could 
thus be made known that God became Man ; for this is 
the first and most essential thing for which the Word was 
given. For no one can believe in a God, and love a God, 
whom he cannot have a conception of under some form ; 
wherefore they who acknowledge what is incomprehensible 
glide in thought into nature, and so believe in no God. 
For this reason it pleased the Lord to be born here, and 
to make this evident by the Word ; in order not only that 
it might be made known on this globe, but also that 
thereby it might be made manifest to all in the universe 
who from any other earth whatsoever come into heaven ; 
for in heaven there is a communication of all things. It 
should be known that the Word on our earth, given 
through heaven by the Lord, is the union of heaven and 
the world — for which end there is a correspondence of all 
things in the letter of the Word with Divine things in 
heaven; and that the Word in its highest and inmost 
sense treats of the Lord, of His kingdom in the heavens 
and on the earths, and of love and faith from Him and in 
Him, therefore of life from Him and in Him. Such 
things are presented to the angels in heaven, from what- 
soever earth they are, when the Word of our earth is read 
and preached. * * * It should be known that the Lord 
acknowledges and receives all, from whatsoever earth they 
are, who acknowledge and worship God under the human 
form; since God under the human form is the Lord. 
And as the Lord appears to the inhabitants of the earths 
in an angelic form, which is the human form, therefore 
when spirits and angels from those earths hear from the 
spirits and angels of our earth that God is actually man, 
they receive the Word, acknowledge it, and rejoice that it 
is so. To the reasons which have been already adduced it 
may be added, that the inhabitants, the spirits, and the 
angels of our earth relate to the external and corporeal 
sense in the Greatest Man ; and the external and corporeal 



THE INCAKNATION. 137 

sense is the ultimate, in which the interiors of life end, 
and in which they rest as in their (receptacle). So is truth 
Divine (in its ultimates) in the letter which is called the 
"Word ; and on this account too it was given on this earth 
and not on another. And because the Lord is the Word, 
and its first and last, that all things might exist according 
to order He was willing to be born on this earth, and to 
become the Word — according to these words in John: 'In 
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning 
with God: all things were made by Him, and without 
Him was not anything made that was made. . . . And the 
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld 
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. 
. . . No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten 
Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath brought 
Him forth to view.' The Word here is Divine truth." — 
A. G. 9350-9360. 

It was, then, not because the inhabitants of our earth 
were better than those of other earths, or more spiritual, 
but because they had descended lower into naturalism and 
sensualism ; and by the Lord's coming to this earth, the 
First became Last, and He could thus redeem the in- 
habitants, and benefit the spirits and angels of all earths, 
by bringing or accommodating the Divine truth to their 
wants, and presenting Himself as a Divine Man for them 
to reverence, love and worship. We think the reader will 
join with us in hoping that the inhabitants of no other 
earth have sunken lower than those of our earth have, 
spiritually ; or into selfishness, love of rule, and perverted 
sensualism. It is difficult to see how they could sink 
much lower without being annihilated by their evils. 

The third objection which is often made to the doctrine 
of the Incarnation, and one which is quite apt to trouble 
the novitiate student, is: "What became of the universe 
when the Lord was dwelling on earth — who took care of 
that?" 



138 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

If we bear in mind that man is but a recipient of life, 
that he has no life of himself, but constantly receives it 
from the Lord, and that the beginning of man's life is but 
the beginning of a receptacle for life to flow into, and 
that even the physical body can only exist by constantly 
receiving physical substances into it, it will help us the 
better to understand this subject. The conception with- 
out a natural father in the case of the virgin, was simply 
the formation of a receptacle for receiving the Divine life, 
as well as human life ; whereas, in the case of ordinary 
men, they having a natural father as well as mother, 
receive only created life. While evil is not transmitted, 
and no child is to blame or responsible for the deeds of 
his parents, still an inclination to the evils which not only 
his parents but also his ancestors have voluntarily made 
their own, by indulging in them, is transmitted from both 
father and mother. The child born, then, in the manger, 
inherited from the mother the inclinations to evil of the 
Jewish race, one of the most selfish and sensual of the 
races of men on earth, and also the frailties and peculiari- 
ties of the race of men before them, or their ancestors. 
It was, then, by assuming these inclinations, that the 
Lord came down to the level of fallen humanity, and be- 
came subject to temptations, like other men. The Divine 
could never be tempted, but the human could be ; and it 
was from the maternal side that He was subject to temp- 
tations, but from the Divine within, that He was able to 
overcome in temptations, and therefore was without sin. 
Of course, the whole of the Divine love and wisdom were 
not manifested in the child, nor was it possible for it to 
be, until the inclinations inherited from the mother were 
overcome ; and while this manifestation of the Lord on 
earth was taking place, he was none the less present in 
heaven, and controlling the universe than previously ; in 
fact, we should remember that heaven is not far distant, 
only from the evil. The Lord says it is actually within 
the good man; and of little children He says, "their 



THE ItfCARtfATIOtf. 139 

angels do always behold the face of our Father in heaven." 
Little children are innocent, and are consequently near to, 
and under the protection of the Lord and His angels; and 
the Divine Father manifesting Himself in the Son born of 
Mary, was in the midst of heaven, the very life thereof. 
The child born, possessed a dual nature, inheriting in- 
clinations and capacities from both father and mother like 
all other children, and it was only after many years of 
conflict with the inherited tendencies, which were derived 
from the mother, and victories achieved, that the Father 
was so far manifested in the Son, that our Saviour was 
able to say, "I and my Father are one; whoso hath seen 
me, hath seen the Father; " and it was only after the last 
temptation of the cross that he was able to exclaim, " It is 
finished," and that He ascended to His Father and our 
Father, His God and our God, having made God manifest 
to man. 

The idea that our heavenly Father, who has created the 
world and the boundless universe for the sake of creating 
man, and all for his use, should so love us as to bow the 
heavens and come down to us in our low estate, for the 
sake of redeeming and saving mankind from falsehood and 
evil, is one of the most sublime, beantiful, and reasonable 
ideas of all the ages ; and it is beautiful because it is true : 
and this glorious truth, so human, so like what God has 
implanted in the heart of His earthly children to strive to 
do for their children, has made the anniversary of the 
birth of our Saviour a season of joy and gladness, and it 
will remain so forever. 

The first prophetical intimation or announcement of 
the coming of the Lord was made in the Garden of Eden, 
when it was declared that the seed of the woman should 
bruise the serpent's head. The woman signified man's 
proprium or selfhood ; the serpent, man's sensual nature ; 
the seed of the serpent, infidelity which has resulted 
from evil of every kind. "The serpent's head," says 
Swedenborg, " is self-love ; the seed of the woman is the 



140 



CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 



Lord; the enmity which is put, is between the love of 
man's proprium and the Lord, thus between man's own 
prudence and the Divine Providence of the Lord." This 
Divine allegory was understood by the descendants of the 
Most Ancient or Adamic Church, and also of the Noachian 
or Ancient Church, from which have sprung all the 
inhabitants of the world. For in those early days, as we 
have already shown, they understood the science of corres- 
pondences. It will be readily seen that such an important 
idea as the Incarnation of the Lord, existing among all 
men at any one period, could hardly be lost ; but would 
be transmitted either by tradition, or by writing, among 
all nations ; or, to say the least, low and degraded must 
be that nation or race where some traces of this cheerful 
and hopeful belief is not to be found. 

"And such revelations," says Kev. G. Field in his 
work entitled 'The Two Great Books of Nature and 
Revelation,' " have never been wanting, and have always 
been adapted to the state of human reception. Thus we 
find that in the earlier days of the world, in the time of 
the gold and silver ages (when natural images were used 
to represent spiritual ideas), the coming of the Lord had 
been variously foretold and symbolized, and was by tra- 
dition preserved among all nations, and couched under 
various personifications, on the earth, and in the heavens ; 
thus we find the same or similar predictions among the 
heathen, as are in the Sacred Books, and these originally 
obtained from earlier Divine revelations, all relating to 
the coming of Jehovah. 



HERCULES. 

'The lay records the la- 
bors and the praise, 

And all the immortal acts 
of Hercules. 

First, how the mighty 
babe when swathed in 
bands, 

The serpents strangled 
with his infant hands; 



ESCULAPIUS. 

'Onee as the sacred in- 
fant she surveyed, 

The God was kindled in 
the raving maid; 

And thus she uttered her 
prophetic tale : 



JESUS CHRIST. 

'Ye nymphs of Solyma 
begin the song 1 

O thou, my voice in- 
spire, 

That touched Isaiah's 
hallowed lip? with fire ; 

Rapt into future times, 
the bard began; 



THE INCARNATION. 



141 



Then as in years and 
matchless force he 
grew, 

The CEchalian walls, and 
Trojan, overthrew. 

Besides a thousand haz- 
ards they relate, 

Procured by Juno's and 
Euristheus' hate. 

Thy hand?, unconquer'd 
hero, could subdue % 

The cloud-born Centaurs 
and the monster crew; 

Nor thy resistless arm 
the Bull withstood ; 

Nor he, the roaring ter- 
ror of the wood. 

The triple porter of the 
Stygian seat, 

With lolling tongue lay 
fawning at thy feet, 

&nd, seized with fear, 
forgot the mangled 
meat. 

The infernal waters trem- 
bled at thy sight ; 

Thee, God, no face of 
danger could affright, 

Nor "huge Typheus, nor 
the unnumbered snake,. 

Increased with hissing 
heads in Lerna's lake.' 

Virgil's dSneid, Bk. 8. 



Hail, great physician* of 
the world, all hail ! 

Hail, mighty infant, who 
in years to come 

Shall heal the nations, 
and defraud the tomb! 

Swift be thy growth, thy 
triumphs unconfined ; 

Make kingdoms thicker, 
and increase mankind. 

Thy daring art shall an- 
imate the dead. 

And draw the thunder on 
thy guilty head ; 

Then shalt thou die, but 
from thy dark abode 

Shalt rise victorious, and 
be twice a God.'' 

Ovid's Metamorp. Bk. 2. 



* Esculapius, as well 
as Hercules, was but a 
personification, prefigur- 
ing the advent of Jeho- 
vah (when the full time 
should be come), either 
as the 'mighty Hero,'' 
or the great Therapeuta, 
or the healer of the soul, 
and thus as the 'great 
physician of the world,' 
or God incarnate. 



A virgin shall conceive, 

a virgin bear a son. 
Swift fly the years, and 

rise the expected morn, 
O spring to light! aus- 
picious babe, be born. 
He from thick films shall 

purge the visual ray, 
And on the sightless 

eyeball pour the day; 
'Tis he the obstructed 

paths of sound shall 

clear, 
And bid new music 

charm the unfolding 

ear. 
The dumb shall sing, 

the lame his crutch 

forego, 
And leap exulting like 

the bounding roe.' 



"The avatars, incarnations, and transmigrations of the 
ancients, do not mean, as now generally understood, 
actual physical descents, or embodiments, but typical 
ones, having reference to this great final act, in the com- 
ing of the Great Redeemer into the world, when the state 
of humanity should call for its accomplishment. Long 
before that grand prophecy was fulfilled in outward na- 
ture, festivals were held throughout the eastern world, by 
the Pagans, in honor of the Virgin Paritura. And the 
Apocalyptic Divine, even after this event had been literally 
fulfilled, speaks of it as future, or rather as independent 
of all time ; because it is a principle which always spirit- 
ually takes place, when the mind of man is in a proper, 
receptive state. Thus on the theatre of the spiritual 



142 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

world, a woman representatively brings forth a man child, 
and they are pursued by the Dragon, etc. The Kevelator 
describes the same mental phenomena in allegorical or 
symbolical language, as is described in the Gospels, in the 
sense of the letter, by the Virgin bringing forth a Son, 
and being pursued by Herod, fleeing into Egypt, etc., only 
that in the Gospel this state was actually ultimated in the 
plane of the natural world, that thus there might also be 
a base upon which all things above might repose or rest." 

" Brahma is prophetically described, in a period of remote 
antiquity, long before the days of Abraham, as becoming 
incarnate, and bringing down the Divine Law to man, for 
his restoration and salvation. Prometheus in like manuer 
is a personification of a similar Theophany, or a revelation 
of the love of God through the spiritual perceptions of a 
chosen instrument. It was thus also, says Milman, that 
the Divine Truth was successively brought down to the 
apprehensions of man, as the Memra, or Divine Word ; 
and the 6 appellation is found in the Indian, the Persian, 
the Platonic, and the Alexandrian systems.' Which term 
is also applied to the Messiah by the Targumists, or ear- 
liest Jewish commentators on the Scriptures. — {History 
of Christianity.) 

"And not only is that prophetic descent of the great 
Deliverer, and Saviour, thus written upon the tablets of all 
nations, in His passage through the spiritual heavens, by 
the assumption of an angel's body, by Shekinahs, The- 
ophanies, and Avatars, but even the then far off event of 
His own actual advent — down to the earthly senses, and 
tabernacling in the flesh — was also predicted and typified 
in the most definite manner. In some of the ancient 
Chinese books which have been brought into Europe, 
(The Books Yhing, Likiy~ki, etc.) it is foretold that a time 
would come 'when everything is to be restored to its first 
splendor, by the coming of a Hero called Kinntse, which 
signifies Shepherd and Prince, to whom they give likewise 
the names of The Most Holy, the Universal Teacher, and 



THE INCARNATION. 143 

the Supreme Truth. He answers exactly to the Mythras 
of the Persians, the Orus of the Egyptians, the Mercury 
of the Greeks, and the Brahma of the Indians. The Chi- 
nese Books speak likewise of the sufferings and conflicts 
of Kiuntse just as the Syrians do of the death of Adonis, 
who was to rise again to make men happy ; and as the 
Greeks do of the labors and painful exploits of the son of 
Jupiter who was to come down upon earth. It looks as if 
the source of all these allegories was only an ancient tra- 
dition common to all nations. " — ( Theology and Mythology 
of the Ancients.) 

" The Persian sphere, cited by Aben Ezra, ' represents a 
beautiful Virgin, with flowing hair, sitting in a chair, with 
two ears of corn in her hand, and suckling an infant, 
called Jesus by some nations, and Christ in Greek.' The 
Arabian astronomer, Alboazar (or Abulmazar), has this 
passage quoted by Kirker Selden, and E. Bacon, and 
Dupuis: 'In the first decan of the sign of the Virgin, 
following the most ancient tradition of the Persians, the 
Chaldeans, the Egyptians, Hermes, and Esculapius, a 
young woman, called in the Persic language Seclenidos de 
Darzama; in the Arabic, Adrenedefa, that is to say, a 
chaste, pure and immaculate Virgin, suckling an infant, 
which some nations call Jesus, but which we in Greek 
call Christ. 9 

"And 'To this day Egypt has consecrated the preg- 
nancy of a Virgin, and the nativity of her son, whom they 
annually present in a cradle to the adoration of the people, 
and when King Ptolemy, 350 years before the Christian 
era, demanded of the priests the signification of this re- , 
ligious ceremony, they told him that it was a mystery 
that had been taught to their forefathers by a respectable 
prophet.' 

"Thus in the ancient Books of China they have a 
record of the coming or ' incarnation of the great Hero, 
his birth by a Virgin, his low estate, his teaching for three 
years, his suffering for the sins of the whole world, resur- 



144 CALL TO THE NEW JEEUSALEM. 

rection, ascent into heaven, and coming to judgment, the 
eternal happiness of the good, and the eternal misery of 
the wicked." — (iV. J. Magazine, 1848.) 

" The Jesuits in China were appalled at finding in the 
Mythology of that country, the counterpart of the ' Virgo 
Deipara.'" For further information on this subject, see 
Milman's "History of Christianity," also Volney, Taylor, 
Field, and others. 

We turn now to the predictions of the Incarnation of 
the Lord contained in the sacred Scriptures. 

In the seventh chapter of Isaiah we read : " Therefore 
the Lord Himself shall give you a sign : Behold, a virgin 
shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name 
Immanuel, or God with us;" and in the ninth chapter we 
read: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; 
and the government shall be upon his shoulders ; and his 
name shall be called wonderful, counsellor, the mighty 
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." And 
in the twenty-fifth chapter: "It shall be said in that day, 
Lo, this is our God, we have waited for Him, and He will 
save us ; this is the Lord, we have waited for him, we will 
be glad and rejoice in his salvation." In the fortieth chap- 
ter of Isaiah we read : " The voice of him that crieth in 
the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
straight in the desert a highway for our God." " And the 
glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see 
it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
" Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and 
his arm shall rule for him : behold, his reward is with 
him, and his work before him." "He shall feed his flock 
like a shepherd." 

In the twenty-third chapter of Jeremiah, is the follow- 
ing : " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will 
raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall 
reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice 
in the earth. * * * And this is the name whereby he 
shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness." In Zecha- 



THE INCARNATION. 145 

riah, second chapter, we read: "Sing and rejoice, 
daughter of Zion : for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the 
midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be 
joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: 
and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know 
that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee." In the 
fifth chapter of Micah, we read, "But thou, Bethlehem 
Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of 
Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me that is to 
be Euler of Israel ; whose goings forth have been from of 
old, from everlasting, He shall stand and feed in the 
strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the 
Lord his God." And in the third and fourth chapters of 
Malachi, we read : " Behold, I will send my messenger, and 
he shall prepare the way before me ; and the Lord whom 
ye seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the 
messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in ; behold, 
he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may 
abide the day of his coming ? or who shall stand when he 
appeareth ? for he is like a refiner's fire." " Behold, I will 
send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the 
great and dreadful day of the Lord." 

The Prophet Daniel declares that he " Saw in the night 
visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with 
the clouds of heaven, and came to the ancient of days, 
and they brought him near before him. And there was 
given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all 
people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his 
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and shall not pass 
away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. 
* * * And all dominions shall serve and obey him." 
Seventh chapter. 

We have cited but a few of the passages to be found in 
the Prophets which teach more or less clearly that the 
Lord, or Jehovah Himself, was to assume humanity, or 
manifest Himself in the flesh for the salvation of our race. 
Let every one who reverences the sacred Scriptures, as the 
7 



146 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

Word of God, search the Old Testament from beginning 
to end, and see if they do not testify to this great truth — 
that the Jehovah and Saviour of the Old Testament and 
the God manifest and Saviour of the New Testament are 
the same. We have shown how wonderfully the predic- 
tions of the Prophets in the Holy Word, are sustained by 
the traditions and "sacred writings" which are to be 
found among Gentile nations, and which have come down 
from the earliest churches established by the Lord on 
earth — even from the Adamic and Noachian churches. 

We know full well that many sincere Christians in 
every church, in whom the Word of the Lord has not 
been made of none effect by the traditions and doctrines 
of men, and who have not confirmed themselves in false 
doctrines, know of the Lord because they strive to keep 
His commandments and sayings, and think of and worship 
no other God than the Lord Jesus Christ. But to those 
who have either framed for themselves, or embraced false 
doctrines, which permit them to hope for heaven, short of 
a constant living effort to keep the Divine commandments, 
or those who have pinned their faith upon the sleeves of 
blind leaders, instead of searching the Scriptures for the 
truth, and have confirmed themselves in errors, the First 
or Second coming of the Lord is a day of darkness and not 
of light. Truly to such does the Prophet Amos predict 
by inquiring: "Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness 
and not light ? even thick darkness and no brightness. " 
Fifth chapter. " Wo unto you that desire the day of the 
Lord ! to what end is it for you ? The day of the Lord 
is darkness and not light," is the prophetical language 
addressed by the Lord through the prophet Amos to the 
makers of false doctrines, and worshippers of false gods of 
all ages ; to the man who is in the pride of his own intel- 
ligence, bigoted, intolerant, lover of ruling in spiritual 
things — the blind leader. It is addressed to the worship- 
pers of mammon and of self in every form ; to the lovers of 
rule, or of approbation, for the sake of self; the worship- 



THE INCAKKATIOK. 14? 

pers of nature, and of the spirits of the dead. For all such 
in this world there is little hope of their seeing the dawn- 
ing light of this new day, unless in the kind providence 
of the Lord, their selfish and worldly expectations and 
hopes are restrained by afflictions, losses, or disappoint- 
ments, which shall lead them from their selfish schemes, 
to seek the only true and living God as He is revealed in 
His Divine Word. 

But sincere seekers after truth, who reverence the 
Word of the Lord, and are striving to lead a good life 
according to its precepts, of all religious denominations, and 
those of no sect, who are without prejudice, will be able to 
see this grand central doctrine, in the light of the descend- 
ing New Jerusalem, in all its beauty and splendor. That 
God is one, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is that one 
God, is the corner-stone of the New Jerusalem, and upon 
this rock the church of the future is being founded and is 
to be built. This doctrine, as we shall see when we come 
to examine the New Testament, is clearly taught in the 
letter of the Scriptures, but it is most beautifully illumi- 
nated and illustrated by the science of correspondences, 
revealed by the Lord through Emanuel Swedenborg for 
the benefit of the men of this new age. In the spiritual 
sense all the sacred Scriptures treat of the Lord, the 
assumption of the humanity on earth, the glorification of 
that humanity, and of the regeneration of man. The 
long-predicted day when there shall be but one God and 
His name one in all the earth, is at hand. The Christian 
church is yet to be reunited and built up in the bonds of 
charity on this rock ; and with a correct knowledge of the 
Lord, a host of conflicting and false doctrines will dis- 
appear from view, as do the birds of night at the rising 
of the natural sun. 

Rev. Abiel Silver, in his excellent work on the " Sym- 
bolic Character of the Sacred Scriptures," says truly: "It 
is therefore from false, and not from true views of the 
Word, that men are divided. Truths are eternal verities. 



148 CALL TO THE HEW JERUSALEM. 

They are ever and unchangeably the same ; and all truths 
are in harmony, and sustain each other. About them, 
when seen, men cannot differ. It is about falsities, alto- 
gether, that; the Christian world is contending. Falsities 
are all dark, unstable, deceptive, and mysterious; fit 
grounds for contention and strife, and for the proud dis- 
play of self-wisdom ; and constant changes of opinion are 
and must be taking place among those who build upon 
such grounds ; while those who build on the ' Bock of 
ages,' the spiritual truth of the Word, rationally seen in 
the light of analogy, never can change their views, nor 
disagree in their doctrines, unless by sin they lose their 
language. When this light is seen in the study of the 
Holy Word, it will as inevitably lead all sincere students 
of divinity to the same conclusions in every jot and tittle 
of the Word, so far as it is seen, as the light leads to the 
sun from which it flows. The reason is, the investigation 
is carried on by a scientific law, and that law is divine. 
The reason, therefore, why men who read the Word in the 
science of correspondences, differ not in its doctrines, is 
the very reason why men differ not in mathematics; it is 
because, in both instances, the truths are indisputable. 
If, as we believe, there are no two persons who, without 
the light of this science, agree as to the doctrines of the 
Word, and no two, who have it, that disagree, the ques- 
tion, as to its truth, becomes a startling one. 

"Now we wish it distinctly understood, that this lan- 
guage or science was once universal ; that it has been lost, 
and is now revealed ; that the revelation has been made by 
the Lord himself in fulfilment of prophecy, and not by 
any man; that 'The Lion of the tribe of Judah . . . hath 
prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals 
thereof,' and has evolved this science from nature and the 
Holy Word, and not from the mind of any man ; and has 
caused its general elements and rules to be recorded in the 
works entitled the 'Arcana Coelestia,' the 'Apocalypse 
Eevealed,' and the 'Apocalypse Explained,' written by 



THE INCARNATION". 149 

Emanuel Sweden borg ; and that when we read these 
works, and learn this science, and behold its light, we ob- 
tain both the science and the light from the Holy Word 
and from nature, and not from those works except as the 
light shines in them from the Word. 

"As we read those wonderful books with an humble and 
teachable disposition the Holy Word comes up constantly 
before us with newly shining pages, which grow brighter 
and brighter as we progress, until the heavenly harmony 
and beauty of the Word become so absorbing to the mind 
that we lose all sight of the writings we are reading, and 
the Word itself becomes its own interpreter — its own 
revealer of the divine law in which it is written. One 
passage throws its light upon another, and receives back 
the other's lustre in blending beauty, and their united 
blaze is responded to by a third, and all these are embraced 
by a fourth, and so on, till every sacred text we see be- 
comes an evidence of the truth of all the rest, and the 
whole blessed Word, so far as we behold it, stands before 
us in symmetrical glory and beauty, a perfect whole, in an 
'infinitude of parts, all in harmony. And though we are 
lost in the depth and immensity of its wisdom, yet, we 
are lost in light and not in darkness. And every advance 
we make in the regenerate life enables us to drink still 
deeper at this inexhaustible fountain of the water of 
life." 

We will turn now to the testimony concerning the Lord 
to be found in the New Testament. 

In the first chapter of Matthew we are told that the 
angel of the Lord appeared unto the husband of Mary in 
a dream, saying, "Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to 
take unto thee Mary thy wife : for that which is conceived 
in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a 
son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for he shall save 
his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it 
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the 
prophet, saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child, and 



150 CALL TO THE NEW JEEUSALEM. 

shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Em- 
manuel; which being interpreted is, God with us." 

In the first chapter of John we read, " In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word 
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All 
things were made by Him; and without Him was not 
anything made that was made. In Him was life ; and the 
life was the light of men. And the light shineth in dark- 
ness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not." 

In the second chapter of Luke we read that " there were 
in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keep- 
ing watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel 
of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord 
shone round about them ; and they were sore afraid. And 
the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring 
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be for all people. 
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a 
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." 

The first chapter of Mark commences thus : " The be- 
ginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God ; as 
it is written in the prophets, behold I send my messenger 
before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the 
way of the Lord, make his paths straight." 

Thus we see that both the Angel of the Lord and the 
Evangelists declare, that in the person of the Lord Jesus 
Christ was fulfilled the prophetical annunciation of the 
prophets of the Old Testament in regard to the Messiah, 
and that they all declare that He was God with us. 

Let us turn now to the testimony of the Lord Himself, 
as recorded in the gospels, as to His true character. 

In the fourteenth chapter of John he says, "Let not 
your heart be troubled ; ye believe in God, believe also in 
me. * * * Thomas said unto him, Lord, we know not 
whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 
Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life : 
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had 



THE IKCAKNATIOl*. 151 

known me, ye should have known my Father also : and 
from henceforth ye know Him and have seen Him. Philip 
said nnto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth 
us. Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with 
you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that 
hath seen me, hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou 
then, show us the Father ? Believest thou not that 1 am 
in the Father and the Father in me ? The words that I 
speak unto you, I speak not of myself; but the Father that 
dwelleth in me, He doeth the works. Believe me, that I 
am in the Father, and the Father in me." 

In the twelfth chapter of John we read, " Jesus cried 
and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, 
but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me, seeth 
hirn that sent me." In the first chapter we are told, "No 
man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten son, 
which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared 
him." And in the tenth chapter of John we read, " My 
Father, which gave them me, is greater than all ; and no 
man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I 
and my Father are one." 

Such then is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ 
Himself. Could language be plainer ? Is it possible that 
any beiug should proclaim such beautiful, useful, and 
heavenly doctrines — the very doctrines of spiritual life — 
and set such an example to men as did the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and yet represent Himself as being one with the 
Father, and that he that had seen Him had seen the 
Father, when it was not true ? 

We will now glance at the testimony of the Apostles in 
the Epistles. 

In the second chapter of Colossians, St. Paul declares 
that in Christ "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily." In the first chapter we are told that Jesus Christ 
*' is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every 
creature ; for by Him were all things created that are in 
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, 



152 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, 
or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him ; 
and He is before all things, and by Him all things con- 
sist/' 

James calls him the Lord of Glory ; and Jude closes his 
Epistle with these words: "To the only wise God our 
Saviour be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both 
now and forever. Amen." 

Let us now turn to the book of Revelation, the last 
book of the Divine Word, and see if the testimony therein 
contained is in harmony with the Old Testament, the 
Gospels, and the Epistles, in regard to the Lord. . 

In the first chapter of Revelation, John the revelator 
declares that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and 
heard behind him a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I 
am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And, turn- 
ing to see from whom the voice came, he " saw one like 
unto the Son of Man," and when John had fallen at his 
feet as dead, this same person lays his right hand upon 
him, and says : " Fear not, I am the first and the last. I 
am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold, I am alive 
for evermore." Thus leaving no doubt that the Lord 
Jesus Christ, or the Son of Man, was the being whose 
voice the revelator heard behind him. Again, in the last 
chapter of Revelation, where the Second Coming of the 
Lord Jesus is spoken of, He says: "And behold, I come 
quickly; and my reward is with me to give every man 
according as his work shall be ; I am Alpha and Omega, 
the beginning and the end, the first and the last." 

" In the Old Testament, Jehovah," says Rev. B. F.Barrett, 
(from whose excellent work on " The New Dispensation," 
and other works, we intend taking several extracts for this 
section and the one on the Trinity,) " repeatedly declares 
Himself to be the First and the Last; and since there 
evidently cannot be two firsts and lasts, in the sense in 
which these words are here used, therefore the Lord Jesus 
Christ must be the same, as to person, as Jehovah. But 



THE INCARNATION. 153 

there are other passages in the book of Bevelatiou, which 
render the identity of Jesus and Jehovah, as to person, 
evident beyond doubt ; " for in the seventeenth chapter we 
read: "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the 
Lamb shall overcome them; for he is Lord of lords, and 
King of kings." That the Lamb denotes the Lord Jesus 
Christ is manifest from many passages ; as in the follow- 
ing in the fifth chapter, where we are told that John 
heard the voice of ten thousand times ten thousand, 
and thousands of thousands of angels round about the 
throne : " Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain to receive power, and honor, and glory, and 
blessing." In the same chapter we are told that " the four 
and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb," and they 
sung a new song, saying, " Thou art worthy to take the 
book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain 
and hast redeemed us, etc." 

We have now taken a hasty glance at the abundant 
testimony which the Divine Word from beginning to end 
bears to the truth of this doctrine — that the Lord Jesus 
Christ is the Supreme and only God of heaven and earth. 
We find that the same titles are applied to Him as to 
Jehovah God, the same attributes of eternity and self- 
existence predicated of Him by myriads of angels, that is 
proper to be given to the Lord alone. 



XXIV. 

The Divine Trinity. 

THAT the Lord is a Triune being is not a new doc- 
trine, nor is a knowledge of the Trinity which existed 
previous to the Incarnation, confined to the sacred Scrip- 
tures, but it is also to be found among the traditions and 
" sacred writings " of many Gentile nations, having been 
transmitted to them from the Noachian or Ancient 
Church. 



154 CALL TO THE NEW JEEUSALEM. 

Says the Eev. G. Field, in his work on " The Two Great 
Books": "Not only was there given to man from the 
most ancient time the truths of this universal religion, in 
relation to One God, One Glorious and Infinite Divine 
Man, as the Creator, Preserver, Saviour, and Eedeemer; 
as the 'Eternally Ancient One,' the essential substance of 
aH being in whom, according to the testimony of the 
Druids and the unperverted teaching of all the oldest 
traditions of the eastern nations (and from remnants 
found in the western world), there was a triad of essential 
perfections, ' infinite Love, infinite wisdom, and infinite 
power ; ' but He is also constantly presented as our 
Saviour, Redeemer, and Deliverer. Thus, says Milman, 
the infinite and eternal Father was the Bythos (or the 
Divine Love), together with 'His Own first concep- 
tion/ or its existing form, 'His Ennoia' (or the Divine 
Wisdom). This is the divine substance and form of the 
first degree, the Jehovah Elohim of the Old Testament, 
which in its 'development, or self-manifestation, was mind 
{Nous), whose appropriate consort was Aletlteia, or Truth f 
or the Jesus Cheist of the New Testament, from whom 
proceeded the third degree, ' the Logos and Zoe,' the 
Word of Teuth, and the Holy Spieit; or God, as He 
is in Himself, above the heavens, as He became (or was to 
become) manifest in the flesh on earth, and as His Holy 
Spirit, or proceeding life which was to be stamped upon 
the 'Anthropos and Ecclesia/ or upon man and the 
church." 

The Druid Triads declare that: 

" Three things evince what God has done, and will do : 
Infinite Power, Infinite Wisdom, and Infinite Love ; for 
there is nothing that these attributes want, of power, of 
knowledge, or of will to perform." 

" The three regulations of God towards giving existence 
to everything : to annihilate the power of evil, to assist all 
that is good, and to make discrimination manifest that it 
might be known what should and what should not be." 



THE DIVIDE TEIKITY. 155 

" Three things will infallibly be done : all that is possi- 
ble for the poiver, for the wisdom, and for the love of God 
to perform." 

" Three things it is impossible that God should not per- 
form : what is most beneficial, what all most need, and 
what is the most beautiful of all things." 

" Three things proceed from the primeval Unities : all 
of life, all that is good, and all power." 

" God consists necessarily of three things : the greatest 
of life, the greatest of knowledge, and the greatest of 
power, and of what is the greatest there can be no more 
than one of anything." 

"Is not the Christian doctrine of the Trinity in the 
Godhead foreshadowed, in the foregoing, in a light which 
is consistent with rationality? It would appear to be." — 
Rev. C. A. Dunham's Letters from Wales. 

The New Testament treats of the Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost ; and doubtless some of our readers will inquire : 
" If these names do not signify three persons, what do they 
mean ? " 

In both Matthew and Luke we are distinctly taught, that 
our Lord Jesus Christ had no human father. In the 
Gospel of Luke we read that the Angel Gabriel was sent 
unto a virgin named Mary : " and said unto her, the Holy 
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest 
shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing 
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of 
God." 

The skeptic, and the denier of Divine revelation, make 
light of the idea that our Saviour had no human father, 
and declare such a birth a violation of the laws of nature 
and therefore impossible. We have already fully consid- 
ered this objection ; but as it is often heard, at the risk of 
repeating in substance a few lines, we will inquire: If it 
could have been more difficult, or more of a violation of 
the laws of nature for our Heavenly Father to create a 
human form by the aid of a natural mother, than it was 



156 CALL TO THE HEW JERUSALEM. 

for Him to create the first man and woman who existed on 
earth without either natural father or mother ? Geology 
teaches that man has not always existed upon the earth ; 
and his creation, whether he was created a man, as most 
Christians believe, or from development from the lower 
orders of the animal kingdom, as some believe, was unmis- 
takably a special effort of creative energy. And it would 
seem almost self-evident, that few things are more un- 
reasonable, and contrary to acknowledged, even manifest 
facts, than such objections against the Divinity of our 
Saviour. With him whose reverence for the Divine 
Word has not been impaired, and who delights in the 
Law of the Lord, such objections do not weigh, but he 
decides this question by its merits. 

The power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, was 
the prophetic annunciation of the angel. There can be 
but one Highest, and that is Jehovah. Jehovah, then, is 
the Father of the Humanity born of the Virgin Mary, 
according to the testimony of the angel Gabriel. The 
Son, then, was that humanity born in time. 

The words which are sometimes translated " Holy 
Ghost," properly signify a holy breathing, or exhalation, 
and is a going forth of the Divine through the humanity. 
Therefore we read that our Lord, after His resurrection, 
breathed on His disciples, and said unto them, " Eeceive 
ye the Holy Ghost * (John xx. 22). 

We are taught by the herald of the New Dispensation, 
Emanuel Swedenborg, that in our Lord Jesus Christ there 
is a Divine Trinity, consisting of the all-begetting Divinity 
which is called the Father, the Humanity which is called 
the Son, and the proceeding Divine, which is called the 
Holy Spirit.— A. R. 962. 

Thus the stone which sectarian builders have too fre- 
quently rejected, has indeed become the head of the 
corner; even the corner-stone of the New Jerusalem, 
which is now descending from God out of heaven. And 
the man of this new age, in paying supreme homage to the 



THE DIVIDE TRINITY. 157 

Lord Jesus Christ, worships all the adorable Trinity, for 
he worships the Father in the Son ; and the Holy Spirit is 
the Divine proceeding sphere of the Son from the Father 
operating upon man. 

That we may understand more clearly the Divine 
Trinity, let us examine the trinity in man ; for we read 
that man was created in the image of God. If this bo 
true, and in God exists a trinity, in man must exist a 
finite image of that trinity. In man exists a will, or a 
receptacle for love or affections ; an understanding, or a 
receptacle for wisdom or truth ; and through the latter 
the affections flow forth into thoughts, words, and acts; 
clothed as it were in the understanding— a manifestation 
of our affections to others, and by which they are affected 
for good or evil. So in the Lord, the giver of all that 
man receives, we have the Divine Love or the Father, the 
Divine Wisdom or the truth as the Son, and the goings 
forth of the Divine Love or affections through the Divine 
wisdom or truth, clothed by the latter as Divine thoughts 
and words, and Providential rulings descending as the 
Holy Ghost to influence and bless men. 

How beautiful and sublimely true then are the first few 
verses «of St. John's Gospel. "In the beginning was the 
Word, (or Divine Truth) and the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning 
with God. All things were made by him, and without 
him was not anything made that was made. In him was 
life, and the life was the light of men." It is manifest 
that the Divine Truth is light to man's spirit. 

But let us examine this great doctrine of the Trinity in 
a still lower, or more external plane ; for we read that 
"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we 
beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the 
Father) full of grace and truth." That we may the more 
readily comprehend the subject, let us turn again to the 
trinity in man. Man • has a soul and body, and through 
his body goes forth his spirit into words and acts. Jeho- 



158 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

vah or the Father, as we have seen, was the indwelling 
soul of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the latter had no human 
father ; the body or Son was from Mary, and through this 
body the Divine flowed down in words of wisdom and acts 
of goodness and mercy to man. Truth is the form of love, 
and it alone can manifest a good affection. Therefore the 
Lord was manifested to men by the truth, or the Father 
in the Son, or " God in Christ reconciling the world unto 
Himself." 

How mystery disappears, or vanishes, from the Divine 
Trinity when, without preconceived opinions or prejudice, 
it is viewed in the light of the Holy Word in its literal 
sense, we hope to be able to show to the satisfaction of 
many ; but if the reader would be able to see this doctrine 
in all of its fullness and beauty, he must read the writings 
of Swedenborg, and study the spiritual sense as unfolded 
by the science of correspondences ; for it is the spirit that 
giveth life to the letter, and God in His great mercy to us 
has at this day revealed to us the true meaning of the 
Holy Word, and the law in accordance with which it was 
written, so that he who runneth may read. 

Man not only inherits a material body from the mother, 
but he also inherits an inclination to pervert his passions, 
appetites, and desires ; for we see in the hereditary inclina- 
tions and capacity of the child, both as to the affections 
and intellect, the mother as well as the father represented. 
So our Saviour not only possessed a Divine nature from 
the Father, but He also inherited, as has already been inti- 
mated, from the mother, Mary, human affections, and even 
inclinations to those evils in which the Jewish race were 
sunken; therefore we read that He was subject to like 
passions with other men. Had He not inherited an in- 
clination to evils from the mother, He could not have 
been tempted, for it is evident the Divine could not be 
tempted to do evil; nor can there be any temptations 
where neither active nor passive inclinations to evil exist. 
No one is to blame for his hereditary inclinations — 



THE DIVINE TRINITY. 159 

original sin is a myth — therefore the Lord was without 
sin, for He overcame His hereditary inclinations to evil. 

Man receives from the Lord conscience, and the capa- 
city to elevate his thoughts into, or so as to see, the truths 
of the Divine Word, which teach him the life of regenera- 
tion : and when man wills to lead such a life, the Lord 
enables him to overcome both his hereditary and acquired 
inclinations ; not in a day, for it is the work of a lifetime. 
The Lord's glorification was typical of man's regeneration; 
and as the former was only perfected when the humanity 
had passed through the various temptations of which we 
read in the Gospels, even to the last great temptation on 
the cross, when in agony the humanity cried to the Divine 
within : " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" 
" It is finished," He cried, and gave up the ghost. As the 
final hour approached before His crucifixion, in the gar- 
den, we read that " He fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 
my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ; " 
but He is given the strength to respond : "Nevertheless, 
not as I will, but as thou wilt ; " and in His next prayer 
He prayed, saying, " my Father, if this cup may not 
pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done." 

So with man ; the Lord tempers the winds to the shorn 
lamb, and it is only as the Christian gains strength to 
overcome, that he is permitted to encounter the most 
fearful temptations, and the last hours of a long life may 
arrive before he is able to bear the last great temptation ; 
if in fact he is ever able to withstand it in this world. 
Almost constantly, from the very beginning of regenera- 
tion, is there a warfare between the new will, which the 
Lord has given the Christian, and the unlawful selfish 
desires and sensual appetites of the natural man. 

" There are in man," says Swedenborg, " two minds, the 
one superior or interior, which is called the spiritual mind, 
and the other inferior or exterior, which is called the 
natural mind. The natural mind in man is first opened 
and cultivated, because this is proximately extant to the 



160 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

world (or in contact with it). The spiritual mind is 
opened and cultivated afterward, but only in proportion 
as man in life receives the knowledges of truth from the 
Word, or from doctrine derived from the Word; where- 
fore it is not opened with those who do not apply those 
knowledges to life." We here see the reason why evil 
men are not troubled like other men. 

But the man in whom the life of regeneration has com- 
menced, has, as it were, two wills or two minds, one will- 
ing to do good and the other evil. The Apostle manifestly 
alludes to this double nature when he says: "I find 
then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present 
with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward 
man; but I see another law in my members, warring 
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into cap- 
tivity to the law of sin" (Rom. vii. 21 to 23). In another 
place, Paul says : " For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, 
and the spirit against the flesh ; and these are contrary 
the one to the other " (Gal. v. 17). 

Rev. Mr. Barrett says truly: "Now that the Apostle 
does not here mean by the flesh man's material body, but 
the external or natural mind, in contradistinction to what 
he calls ' the inward man/ is manifest from some of the 
things which he afterwards mentions as ' the wwks of the 
flesh ; ' such as hatreds, emulations, wrath, strife, envy- 
ings, etc., all of which proceed not from the material body, 
but evidently from the natural unregenerate mind." 

Every man who is earnestly trying to lead a good and 
true life feels that he has a higher and lower nature, and 
that he must look to the higher to guide and not to the 
lower, as the human of the Lord looked to the Divine 
within, before that human was fully united, or made one 
with the Divine; but because of these two conflicting 
states or minds, of which a man is conscious within him- 
self, he is not two persons, nor has he two separate souls, 
or consciousnesses; nor had the Psalmist when he ad- 
dressed his soul in the following sublime language : " Why 



THE DIVINE TRINITY. 161 

art thou cast down, my soul ? and why art thou dis- 
quieted within me ? hope thou in God ; for I shall yet 
praise Him who is the health of my countenance, and my 
God " (Psalms xlii. 11). Nor are such appeals to the soul, 
as though it were a distinct person, uncommon in the 
Holy Word. The Psalmist exclaims : " Bless the Lord, 
mv soul." "Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, my 
soul." 

We are taught in the writings of Swedenborg that: 
"Because the Lord had from the beginning a human from 
the mother, and successively put off this, therefore, while 
he was in the world, He had two states, which arc called 
the state of humiliation and the state of glorification or 
union with the Divine, which is called the Father. The 
state of humiliation was in the time and in the degree 
that He was in the human from the mother; and the 
state of glorification, at the time and in the degree that 
He was in the human from the Father. In the state of 
humiliation He prayed to the Father, as to one different 
from himself; but in the state of glorification He spoke 
with the Father as with himself. In this state He said 
that the Father was in Him and He in the Father, and 
that the Father and He were one ; but in the state of 
humiliation He underwent temptations and suffered the 
cross, and prayed that the Father might not forsake Him ; 
for the Divine could not be tempted, and still less suffer 
the cross. From these things now it is manifest, that by 
temptations, and continued victories over them, and by 
the passion of the cross, which was the last of the tempta- 
tions, He fully conquered the hells and fully glorified the 
human."—/). L. 35. 

After His resurrection the Lord appeared unto His dis- 
ciples and spake unto them saying : " All power is given 
unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matt, xxviii. 18). How 
clearly is this great doctrine taught in this passage, that 
the Father is in the Son, and that it is through the glori- 
fied Divine humanity that thenceforth all power is to be 



162 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

exercised both in heaven and in earth. So that being 
" baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost" does not signify in the name of three 
Gods, or of three Divine persons, but in the name of the 
three essentials of the one God — the Divine Love or 
Father, the Divine Humanity or Son, and the Divine pro- 
ceeding from the Lord, or the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. 

It is impossible for us to worship a being of whom we 
can form no image, and to attempt it is to worship an 
unknown God. How then can we worship the Father 
except as He has manifested Himself in the Son? "Ye 
have not heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor 
seen His shape" (John v. 37). "No man hath seen God 
at any time : the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom 
of the Father, He hath declared Him." 

" Jesus said unto him (Thomas), I am the way and the 
truth and the life : no man cometh to the Father, but by 
me" (John xiv. 6). And again in the tenth chapter of 
John we read : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that 
entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth 
up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." 
* * * But when "they understood not what things 
they were which He spake unto them " (6th verse), Jesus 
said " unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I 
am the door of the sheep " (7). " I am the door ; by me 
if any man shall enter in, he shall be saved " (9). " Come 
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest" (Matt. xi. 28). 

" Jesus Christ, then, is plainly the only true object of 
religious worship,' for He is the God of Eevelation — the 
only God revealed to men. He is, as we have seen, the 
manifested Jehovah — Emmanuel, or God with us. He is 
God come down to us in our low estate, in order that He 
might raise us up towards heaven and Himself: in order 
that He might in His own assumed Human, clearly reveal 
to us how the principles of infinite truth and love operate 
in the redemption and salvation of men, and that He 



THE DIYIKE TKIKITT. 163 

might give to these principles their fullest power and 
effect. This is the greatest, most important, and most 
comprehensive of all truths." — {Barrett.) 

The Scriptures declare, as we have seen, that He is Im- 
manuel, or God with us, and that He is our Saviour. In 
the Old Testament, as we have already shown, we are 
repeatedly told that Jehovah is our Saviour, and that be- 
side Him there is no Saviour; and Jehovah assures us 
that He will not give His glory to another. 

Jesus Christ says : "lam the good shepherd : the good 
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep — my sheep hear my 
voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give 
unto them eternal life" (John x.). The Psalmist says: 
"Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not therefore want: 
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth 
me beside the still waters." 

In the fortieth chapter of Isaiah we read : " Say unto 
the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold, the Lord 
God will come with a strong hand, and His arm shall 
rule for Him ; behold, His reward is with Him, and His 
work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shep- 
herd : He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry 
them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are 
with young." Could language be plainer than this ? — the 
Saviour of the Old Testament the same person as the 
predicted and risen Saviour of the New Testament — God 
manifest. 

In the fifty-fourth chapter of Isaiah we read: "Thy 
Maker is thy husband ; Jehovah of Hosts is His name." 
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is called the Hus- 
band and Bridegroom, and the Church His Wife and 
Bride. 

In the Old Testament we read that " Jehovah is a God 
of Truth ; He is a living God, and an everlasting King " 
(Jer. x. 10). In the prophetical annunciations of the 
Lord's coming, and in the New Testament, Christ is 
called King, Zion's King, the King of Israel, and also 



164 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Again, God is called 
a Eock, as in the eighteenth Psalm, " For who is God, 
save Jehovah, or who is a Eock, save our God ? " St. Paul 
declares that Christ was a rock, and that He is a stone 
laid for a foundation in Zion, "a tried stone, a precious 
corner-stone, a sure foundation." Again, Jehovah calls 
Himself I Am, as in Exodus iii. 14> " God said unto 
Moses, I Am that I Am ; and He said, Thus shalt thou 
say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto 
you." Jesus calls Himself by the same name in the 
eighth chapter of John, for He declares : " Before Abra- 
ham was, I Am." And again He says, " If ye believe not 
that I am, ye shall die in your sins." " Then said Jesus 
unto them, when ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then 
shall ye know that I Am." 

Again, Jehovah God calls himself the First and Last. 
" Thus saith Jehovah, king of Israel, and His Eedeemer 
Jehovah of Hosts; I am the First, and I am the Last; 
and beside me there is no God" (Isaiah xliv. 6). Jesus 
Christ applies the same language to himself in Eevelation : 
" I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. I am 
He that Hveth, and was dead ; and behold I am alive for 
evermore ; Amen : and have the keys of hell and of death " 
(first chapter). 

In the Old Testament God is called the Light. The 
Prophet Isaiah, addressing the church, says: "Jehovah 
shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy 
glory" (lx. 19). John says that "God is Light, and in 
Him is no darkness at all ; " and he also says that the 
Word which was made flesh, and dwelt among men, " was 
the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into 
the world." Jesus declares that " He is the Light of the 
world ; he that followeth Me," he says, " shall not walk in 
darkness, but shall have the light of life." 

When Paul was journeying toward Damascus, he says : 
"I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the bright- 
ness of the sun, shining round about me, and them that 



THE DIYIKE TRINITY. 165 

journeyed with me." And it is important to observe that, 
when in. reply to the voice which he heard, he inquired, 
"Who art thou, Lord?" the answer was, "I am Jesus, 
whom thou persecutest." 

The Pslamist says : "Forever, Jehovah, thy Word is 
established in heaven" (cxix. 89); and in the fortieth 
chapter of Isaiah we are told that this " Word of our God 
shall stand forever." Jesus said, "Heaven and earth 
shall pass away, but my Word shall not pass away" (Matt, 
xxiv. 35). In Deuteronomy viii 3, we read that "man 
doth not live by bread only, but by every word that pro- 
ceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." 
Jesns said, "I am the living bread that came down from 
heaven, if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; 
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I will 
give for the life of the world." Again, "It is the spirit 
that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words 
that I speak unto you are spirit and are life" (John vi.). 

In Second Chronicles we read : " Judah, and ye inhab- 
itants of Jerusalem, believe in Jehovah your God, so shall 
ye be established." Jesus Christ says: "I am the resur- 
rection and the life ; he that believeth in me, though he 
were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and 
believeth in me shall never die " (John xi. 25 and 26). 

In Isaiah xlv. 22, we read : " Look unto me and be ye 
saved, all the ends of the earth ; f or I am God, and there 
is none else"; "a just God and Saviour, there is none 
beside me." Jesus saith: "Come unto me, all ye who 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" 
(Matt. xi. 28). 

We find, then, that the same attributes are predicated of 
Jesus Chrst as of Jehovah. He is therefore, in the lan- 
guage of Peter, our "God and Saviour Jesus Christ." 
"To Him be glory both now and forever" (1 Peter xi. 
and last chapter). Truly, in the language of Simon Peter, 
we may exclaim: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast 
the words of eternal life " (John vi. 68). 



166 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

A knowledge of the Lord was possessed in the Christian 
church at its commencement. In the Apocryphal New 
Testament (a work which, says a distinguished writer, is 
Valuable on account of its reflecting to us the opinions of 
some of the early Christians), Mcodemus says: "And I 
know now that He is Almighty God, and mighty in His 
human nature, who is the Saviour of mankind " (xv. 19). 
Again he says : " And so it appears that Jesus, whom we 
crucified, is Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the true and 
Almighty God " (xxii. 20). Clement says : " Brethren, we 
ought so to think of Jesus Christ, as of God, as of the 
Judge of the living and the dead " (2 Cor. i. 1). Ignatius 
repeatedly speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ, and says that 
" God Himself appeared in the form of a man, for the 
renewal of eternal life " (Eph. iv. 13). 

But, alas ! until the dawning light of the descending 
New Jerusalem began to dispel the darkness, the Sun has 
been darkened for many centuries throughout the Chris- 
tian world; or, in other words, the Supreme, sole and 
exclusive Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, has been 
denied by too many creed builders, and thus they have 
rejected the chief corner-stone. No wonder then that all 
has been confusion in the Christian world, and that the 
cry is Lo here, and Lo there, among hundreds of conflict- 
ing sects — all claiming to be right. The prophetic annun- 
ciation has been fulfilled : " Verily I say unto you, there 
shall not be left here one stone (truth) upon another, that 
shall not be thrown down" (Matt. xxiv. 2). When the 
chief corner-stone, or the doctrine that the Lord Jesus 
Christ is God alone, or God manifest in the flesh, is 
rejected in the church, the doctrines built on other foun- 
dations are built upon sandy foundations, "for," says the 
Apostle, " other foundations can no man lay than that is 
laid, which is Jesus Christ." 

The Unitarian, in the past more frequently than at this 
day, denied the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
sustained his views by quoting some of the passages which 



THE DIVINE TRINITY. 167 

refer to the Lord before His glorification, or before His 
Humanity was made Divine. 

The Trinitarian has also, in the past more frequently 
than to-day, divided God into three persons, and upon 
this foundation has built a system of doctrines entirely 
inconsistent with the strict personal unity of God. If the 
various churches were all to acknowledge that there is but 
one God, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is that one God, 
many of the prevailing doctrines would "all vanish speedily, 
for they would have no foundation — not even a sandy 
one — for all men would see that faith separate from 
charity is dead, and that all genuine religion has relation to 
life— must be lived. With one known God there can be 
unity in the church, for there is a centre; and as this grand 
central doctrine is gradually dawning in the world, a 
spirit of charity and brotherly love toward other denomi- 
nations is slowly but surely taking the place, among 
religious teachers and laymen, of the old, cold, harsh, sec- 
tarian spirit. 

If Jesus Christ is God, and in Him dwelleth all the 
fullness of the Divinity, it is plain that He is our Father 
in heaven, and that we ought to go directly to Him, and 
to acknowledge no other, and to try to think of no other, 
and to pray to no other God besides Him. But, alas ! 
how is it in the Christian world, even to-day? are prayers 
always or even generally addressed to the manifested Jeho- 
vah, or to Jesus Christ? Let every man answer this ques- 
tion for himself; we would barely suggest that it would 
always be well to remember the Lord's words : " No one 
cometh to the Father but by me." How many are there in 
the Christian world that fully realize that the Father dwells 
.in the Son, and that they are one — the one knowm God ? 

Was there no need then of the Lord's Second Coming, 
when He was so generally denied, as He was over a cen- 
tury ago, at the time Swede nborg wrote the things revealed 
to him by the Lord ? 

In the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg we have re- 



168 CALL TO THE KEW JERUSALEM. 

vealed to us the glorious truths of the Lord's Second 
Coming in the clouds of heaven, not of earth — a coming 
in power and great glory; coming down to man's intel- 
lectual perceptions, and satisfying all the highest demands 
of his reason. 

The sacred Scriptures are opened by the revealed science 
of correspondences — the correspondence of all natural 
things to spiritual things. "That there is a relation of 
some sort" says a recent writer, " existing between the 
■visible creation and the invisible, between the objects of 
the natural universe and the subjects of the spiritual uni- 
verse, the things seen by man and the thoughts and affec- 
tions of man, is evident. Of this, the least reflecting must 
be convinced. The language of the people proves this per- 
ception. Poetry confirms this perception more abundantly. 
That there must be such a relation is evident from the fact 
that all things w T ere created with a distinct reference to 
man, and that man was created with a definite relation 
to God — His image. There must be an orderly law of 
sequence from the lowest things up to man, and from man 
up to the Divine Humanity of God. All created things 
bear some relation and possess some resemblance to the 
Creator. Out births from God, they must be to a certain 
extent mirrors in which God is made visible. St. Paul 
expresses it, ' For the invisible things of Him [God] from 
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood 
by the things which are made, even His eternal power and 
Godhead' (Rom. i. 20). In the visible we behold the 
symbols or representatives or correspondences of the in- 
visible things of God. 

* Man's relation to God may be clearly seen. He was 
formed to be 'an image and likeness' of his august Crea- 
tor. In him were, therefore, made receptacles, as we have 
already intimated, into which the essentials of the Divine 
Nature might finitely flow. A marred image, yet a finite 
miniature of God! The Divine Love might flow into his 
capacity to love, or his will: the Divine Wisdom might 



THE DIVIDE TRINITY. 169 

flow into his capacity to be wise, or his understanding. 
The Infinite Power of God is finitely imaged in his power. 
In man, then, is therefore a beautiful finite image of the 
Divine Trinity. The things of God may be received by 
and finitely seen in man. All the dispensations of God's 
Providence have this one great end — that man may be- 
come an agent under the Lord, inspired by His Love, 
directed by His Wisdom. Not that man's will and under- 
standing should become absorbed into, but infilled by, the 
Divine Love and Wisdom. That thus man might to all 
eternity become more and more fully the child of his 
Divine Father ; a free being, yet freely choosing to be led 
and taught by his august Creator." 

Now is being fulfilled the prophecies in regard to the 
descent of the New Jerusalem, "Behold I make all things 
new." Under the figure of the New Jerusalem a New 
Dispensation — not a new sect — is being established, in 
which there shall be no mental night or darkness, "for 
the Lord God giveth th£m light." St. John declares that 
he saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and 
the Lamb are the temple of it. "By the Lord God 
Almighty," says Swedenborg, "'is meant the Lord from 
eternity, who is Jehovah Himself; and by the Lamb is 
signified His Divine Humanity." Two beings are no 
more signified in this and similar passages in the New 
Testament than there are in the following from Isaiah 
xliv. 6 : " Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and His 
Eedeemer the Lord of Hosts, I am the First and I am the 
Last, and besides Me there is no God." 

Is it of little or no moment whether we acknowledge or 
reject the Lord Jesus Christ at His Second Coming, or 
that we say, that we have Moses and the Prophets, the 
Gospels and the Epistles, what need we of Him ? Were 
the Jews guiltless who rejected the Lord at His First 
Coming? Shall it be said of any of us, having eyes ye 
will see not, ears have ye but you hear not? Or shall we 
prove all things and hold fast that which is good ? that 



170 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

it be not said that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom 
and Gomorrah than for us, in the day of Judgment. 

We have dwelt thus at length on the doctrine of the 
Lord and the Trinity, for they are, as has already been 
stated, fundamental. No man can reasonably be expected 
to rise in life superior to the idea which he cherishes of 
the God whom he worships. If his God in his estimation 
is cruel, harsh, unforgiving, actuated by hatred, envy, jeal- 
ousy, requiring to be appeased before He can forgive, and 
punishes his enemies, the man is reasonably sure to in- 
dulge in such passions and actions to a greater or less 
extent. How important to all such is the law of corres- 
pondences, which shows conclusively that all such lan- 
guage, when applied to the Lord in the sacred Scriptures, 
is but the language of appearances, the real truth being 
that God is love, and unchangeably so, and that He never 
hates and never punishes ; but sin carries with it its own 
consequences, or punishment, if you please, as causes 
always produce their effects in the spiritual as well as in 
the natural plane. 



T 



XXV. 

Sacrificial "Worship. 

Hx\T sacrifices have been offered in worship by men 
of widely different nations and races, even long 
before the Jewish or Israelitish Church was established, is 
well known. The science of correspondences, once under- 
stood by all men on earth, which has long been lost, but 
has now been restored by the Lord through Swedenborg, 
alone can furnish us with a key which will unlock the 
mysteries which attend this subject and show us their 
origin, and their original and true design. 

"But, it is asked, 'What is the strongest and most 
conclusive evidence which you have to offer in proof of 
the truth and certainty of this new science ? ' We answer, 
No evidence can be sufficiently clear and full to satisfy a 



SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 171 

mind that will not look at it, or that has no taste nor 
desire for things beyond the gift of this world. But if 
even such a person were entirely unacquainted with the 
Chinese language, and should remove to China, and there 
learn to speak and write that language, so as to read their 
books and understand them, and should find that they 
contained a rational and consecutive chain of ideas and 
history of events, ho certainly would be convinced that they 
had a language, and that he had learned it It is precisely 
so with the language of analogy. It must be examined 
and learned, and tested by the reading of analogical lan- 
guage, before it can be understood. 

" Now man, in true order, is in the general image and 
likeness of God. Any other created thing in true order 
is only an image of some principle or principles in God or 
in man. 

" The order of the outward creation of the world was, 
from lower things to higher, first minerals, then vege- 
tables, then animals, and finally man ; thus orderly and 
gradually approximating by higher and purer organiza- 
tions the real divine image, until God finally crowned the 
creation with man, as the sum total and embodiment of 
all things below him. When all but man was created, 
and everything was in readiness to produce man, the vast 
variety of things scattered all over and throughout the 
universe, were but humanity in fragments ; every single 
thing was an image of some principle which was to be in 
man; and it took them all, combined, to make up the full 
man. Man could not exist until these things were cre- 
ated ; for upon them his body must subsist ; and through 
them his mind is to be educated. 

"But when in the process of the creation all things 
were in readiness for the production of man; when the 
vast variety of human principles lay scattered throughout 
the mineral, the vegetable and the animal kingdoms, in 
living, speaking forms ; when all nature was a beautiful 
page of mental symbols in physical robes, without an 



172 CALL TO THE KEW JEKUSALEM. 

admirer on earth ; with no created rational being to read 
the expressive characters of that wonderful book, and to 
love and worship the Author ; then it is that we behold 
Man, making his appearance — Man, the sum total of the 
creation, the connecting link between God above him and 
nature below him, and thus, the crowning act of the crea- 
tion. And when all these materials were brought harmo- 
niously together, in man, and all was pronounced good, 
the yast universe corresponded to man, and man to his 
Maker." — Rev. A. Silver. 

"The animals of the earth," says Swedenborg, "in 
general, correspond to affections; the tame and useful 
animals correspond to good affections, and the fierce and 
useless kinds to evil affections. In particular, oxen and 
bullocks correspond to the affections of the natural mind; 
sheep and lambs to the affections of the spiritual mind ; 
and birds or other winged creatures, according to their 
species, correspond to the intellectual faculties and exer- 
cises of both minds. Hence it is that various animals, 
as oxen, bullocks, rams, sheep, she-goats, he-goats, and 
male and female lambs, also pigeons and doves, were 
employed in the Israeli tish Church, which was a represen- 
tative one, for holy uses, it being of them that the sacri- 
fices and burnt offerings consisted; for when so employed, 
they correspond to certain spiritual things and were 
understood in heaven according to their correspondences. 
Animals, also, according to their genera and species, ac- 
tually are affections ; the reason of which is because they 
live ; and nothing can have life except from affection, and 
according to it. Hence, likewise, it is that every animal 
possesses an innate knowledge according to the affection 
of its life. Man, too, as to his natural man, is like the 
animals ; wherefore, also, it is usual to compare him to 
them in common discourse. Thus a man of a mild dispo- 
sition is called a sheep or lamb; a man of rough or fierce 
temper is called a bear or wolf; a crafty person is termed 
a fox or a serpent, and so in other instances." 



SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 173 

The Rev. Samuel Noble, from whose "Appeal" to the 
Christian world in behalf of the writings and disclo- 
sures of Emanuel Swedenborg, we have selected most of 
what follows in this section, says: "The sacrifices of the 
Mosaic law are generally allowed to have been of a typical 
nature; and the doctrines of the New Jerusalem bring 
the antitypes of these types to view in the most clear and 
satisfactory manner. 

"First, then, it shall be shown that the sacrifices of the 
Mosaic law were not meant to represent the punishment 
of sin, but the hallowing of every affection and principle 
of the mind, and thus of the whole man, to the Lord. 
Secondly, that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ did not consist 
in His suffering the punishment due to sin, but in His 
hallowing every principle of His Human Nature to the 
Godhead, till at length His Human Nature became a living 
sacrifice, or fully consecrated, sanctified, and hallowed, by 
perfect union with His Divinity. Thirdly, that the Lord 
is called a Mediator in respect to His Humanity, because 
in this He has opened to us a new and living way of access, 
or medium of approach to His Divinity. 

"The prevailing opinion in regard to the Levitical sacri- 
fices is, that the slaying of an animal, and the burning of 
it, or of part of it, on the altar, represented the punish- 
ment due to the offerer, and that, in sacrificing the animal, 
the offerer was eonsidered as entreating that the suffering 
inflicted upon it might be accepted in lieu of the punish- 
ment deserved by himself. This is the notion which the 
Jewish Rabbins have of the subject ; who say also, that a 
confession of sins was made over the victim, when the 
offerer laid his hand upon its head, and thus that the sins 
were considered as transferred to the animal, and punished 
in it instead of the offerer. It is, however, certain, that 
this is merely one of the traditions of the Jews, by which, 
as in so many other instances, they have perverted the 
divine law; for although the offerer was commanded to 
lay his hand upon the head of the victim, not one word is 



174 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

said in the Scriptures of any confession of sins to be then 
made. The only instance in which a confession of sins 
accompanied the laying on of the hand, is that of the 
scape-goat; respecting which Moses commanded that 
* Aaron should lay both his hands upon the head of the 
live-goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the 
children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their 
sins, putting them upon the head of the goat ' (Lev. xvi. 
21). But this goat being thus representatively loaded 
with sins, was considered as unclean, and instead of being 
sacrificed, was sent away into the wilderness: even the 
man that was employed to send it away was considered as 
contaminated by the operation, and rendered unclean also, 
so that he was required to wash his clothes and bathe his 
flesh in water, before he was allowed to return into the 
camp (verse 26). Seeing then, when it was intended that 
a confession of sins should be made over a victim, the 
command for it is so expressly given, can it be supposed 
that a similar confession was intended to be made over all 
the victims, when it is never commanded at all? And 
when the representative effect of this confession of sins 
over an animal was to render it unclean, so that to have 
offered it up in sacrifice would have been an abomination, 
and the only orderly way of disposing of it was to send it 
away into the wilderness, to denote the rejection of man's 
sins, separated from himself, to hell from whence they 
came; can it be supposed that the animals actually sacri- 
ficed were in like manner rendered unclean, by a similar 
confession of sins being made over them, and thus a sim- 
ilar representative transfer of sins to them ? The idea is 
monstrous in the extreme. 

"The reason then why, in all sacrifices, he that offered 
the sacrifice was directed to put his hand upon the head of 
the victim, was, not by that act representatively to trans- 
fer his sins — for to do this the sins were also to be con- 
fessed over it, and that by positive command, as in the 
case of the scape-goat — but to express communication be- 



SACEIFICIAL WORSHIP. 175 

tween the offerer and his sacrifice, which was necessary to 
give the animal its representative efficacy. The animals 
offered in sacrifice represented the good affections of 
various kinds from which the Lord is to be worshipped ; 
but without this symbol of communication between the 
offerer and the animal, the latter would not represent 
any good affection presented by him; to imply that the 
offerer himself wished to worship the Lord by and from 
the good affection which the animal represented, it was 
necessary that he should perform the representative rite of 
putting his hand upon its head; after which the animal 
represented a good affection cherished by him and pre- 
sented by him to the Lord, from a sincere acknowledg- 
ment that everything good is from the Lord alone. 

" Now, that this is the true idea of sacrificial worship, 
is evident from many parts of Scripture; we will just 
select one which is completely conclusive. That the put- 
ting of the animal to death and burning of it upon the 
altar, does not represent the punishment due to the 
offerer, is clear from this circumstance, that the altar, on 
which the sacrifices were offered, is called, in various 
places, ' the table of the Lord.' Thus the Lord says by 
the prophet to the priests, 'Ye have profaned it (that 
is, the name of the Lord) in that ye say, The table of the 
Lord is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even His meat (the 
meat, observe, of the Lord) is contemptible.' Again : 'Ye 
offer polluted bread upon Mine altar : and ye say, Where- 
in have we polluted Thee?' The answer is, 'In that ye 
say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.' Nothing can 
be more clear, from these and numerous other instances, 
than that the things offered in sacrifice, and burnt upon 
the altar, were considered as constituting a feast — were 
presented as upon a table for the Lord to eat; which He 
was considered to do when they were consumed by fire, 
This is the reason why it is so often said in Leviticus, that 
they were to be burnt ' for a sweet-smelling savour to the 
Lord,' They are expressly called the Lord's bread, anci 



176 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

His meat. Can that, then, which He is considered to 
accept as food, be the punishment and torment of sin- 
ners? 

u What then are the viands of which the Lord can par- 
take in reality ? When any allusion is made in Scripture 
to His hunger, it means, His intense desire that His good- 
ness and loye should be received by mankind. On the 
occasion of His temptation in the wilderness it is said, 
that * when He had fasted forty days He was afterwards 
a hungered;' where His fasting refers to the depraved 
state of mankind, and of the church in its entire desola- 
tion, and His hungering, to His intense desire for man's 
salvation. The hunger of the Lord then is satisfied, when 
His love and goodness are received by mankind ; and this 
is done, when man receives affections of goodness and 
truth, or spiritual graces, from Him, and returns them to 
Him in sincere adoration, with the heartfelt acknowledg- 
ment that they are from Him alone. 

" Here then we have a clear idea of the purport of the 
sacrifices in use in the representative or Israelitish Church, 
and also among the Gentile nations — an idea which ex- 
plains the whole system, and banishes obscurity from 
every part ; whereas, on the supposition that they repre- 
sent the punishment due to sinners, and transferred 
from them to the Lord Jesus Christ, we find ourselves 
stumbling amid difficulties and inconsistencies at every 
step. 

" But it may perhaps be thought that this view of the 
subject excludes all reference of the sacrifices to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. The direct contrary, however, is the fact. 
All the Mosaic law of sacrifices was fulfilled in, and by, 
the Lord Jesus Christ, in a super-eminent manner, and 
thus in its highest sense, it has reference to Him ; it is 
only in a subordinate sense, and as we are followers of 
Him, that it has a spiritual fulfilment in us. We, in our 
subordinate degree, as walking after Him, are to be sacri- 
fices too ; but He is the great sacrifice of all. 



SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 177 

"When man continually receives from the Lord the 
graces of which He is the author, and ascribes all to Him, 
in the manner represented by the sacrificial worship of 
the Mosaic law; when every affection and perception of 
his heart and mind, of which the various kinds of sacri- 
fices were representative, or himself in regard to such 
affections and perceptions, is thus continually hallowed to 
the Lord; it follows, that his entire sanctification will at 
length be completed, when the whole man will thus be 
devoutly consecrated to his God. This is the state which 
the Apostle exhorts us to attain, when he says, ' I beseech 
you, brethren, that ye present your bodies a living sacri- 
fice, holy, acceptable unto God; which is your reasonable 
service' (Eom. xii. 1). The Apostle calls this our reason- 
able service in allusion to the carnal service of the Leviti- 
cal law; meaning, that he who thus presents himself a 
living sacrifice truly performs that of which the animal 
sacrifices were types. Such a living sacrifice is a man 
wholly devoted to the Lord, who is wholly renewed by the 
reception of new principles of love, thought, and action, 
from Him ; whose selfish life is extinct, whilst he lives by 
a new life, which is life indeed." 

We are now enabled to see the truth of our second prop- 
osition : that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ did not consist 
in His suffering the punishment due to sin — for if, as we 
have seen, nothing relating to punishment is included in 
the Scripture idea of sacrifices, nothing of this could be 
included in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Lord came 
into the world to save men from sin, and not from the pen- 
alty of sin, for the evil-doer shall not go unpunished — only 
as he ceases from sin — sin is the cause ; suffering, the effect. 

"All things," says a great authority, "are of God, who 
hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath 
committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, 
that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Him- 
self, not imputing their trespasses unto them " (2 Cor. v. 
18, 19.) 



178 CALL TO THE STEW JERUSALEM. 

" The Apostle here delivers, in one single sentence, the 
whole doctrine of the Atonement; and to call attention 
to it he propounds it in the most express and formal man- 
ner. * God hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ :' 
and the ministry of this reconciliation, committed to the 
Apostles, was, to declare this truth : 'to wit, that God ivas 
in Christ reconciling the ivorld unto Himself, not imputing 
their trespasses unto them/ The word here translated 
reconciliation, is the same as is elsewhere rendered atone- 
ment : it cannot then be denied, that the Atonement of 
Scripture is nothing else but our reconciliation with Grod, 
effected by the dwelling of (rod in the person of Jesus Christ. 

" That the Lord is called a Mediator in respect to His 
Humanity, because in this He has opened a new and living 
way of access to His Divinity, must now, one would appre- 
hend, be so evident, that it is needless to employ many 
words in its proof. 

9 " The Apostle says of Jesus, that ' He ever liveth to 
make intercession for us' (Heb. vii. 25). But by inter- 
ceding he does not here mean soliciting or entreating, as a 
supplicant to a sovereign ; nor is there anything in the 
context to sanction such a gross, external idea ; but acting 
as a medium, or as that tvhich goes between, which is the 
strict literal meaning of the word to intercede. Such in- 
tercession is the proper office of the Divine Humanity, for 
this receives into Itself the unmitigated fulness of the Di- 
vine Essence, and dispenses it to man in a form adapted to 
his capacities of receiving it; just as a man's body receives 
into itself the whole of the powers of his soul, and dis- 
penses its energies, in the manner adapted to make them 
efficient, on persons and things around it. How exactly 
does the Lord Himself describe His action in this inter- 
ceding or mediatorial character, when He says, respecting 
the Comforter or Holy Spirit, — 'whom/ will send unto 
you from the Father' (John xv. 26) ; teaching, that the 
Divine Essence is the origin of the Divine Influencing 
Power, but that the Divine Humanity in which it abides 



SACRIFICIAL WORSHIP. 179 

in all its infinite fulness, is the Medium of dispensing its 
agency on mankind. 

" Now, how precisely is the true doctrine on this subject 
expressed by the Apostle Paul ! ' There is one God/ says 
he, 'and one Mediator between God and men, the Man 
Christ Jesus/ He expressly affirms, that it is the Man 
Christ Jesus who is the Mediator. But Jesus is generally 
allowed to be God as well as man ; yet the Apostle takes 
care to guard us from supposing that His Divinity medi- 
ates between us and some other Divinity, by thus expressly 
restricting the office of mediation to His Humanity; hence, 
also, he never uses the title, ' the Man Christ Jesus/ on 
any other occasion whatsoever. How plainly does this in- 
struct us, that the Human Nature of the Lord Jesus Christ 
is the only Medium by which we can have access to His 
Divine Essence ; and that His Divine Essence is not dis- 
tinct from that of the Father, but is the Father Himself! 
His essential Divine Nature is what the Apostle calls God, 
and which he declares to be One; His glorified Human 
Nature is what he calls the Man Christ Jesus, and which 
he also declares to be one, to intimate that the Human 
Nature in Him is essentially different from what it is in 
all other beings, and is as His Divine, being the adequate 
organ of conveying to man the divine communications. 

"The Lord when on earth said, 'I say not unto you, 
that I will pray the Father for you : for the Father Him- 
self loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have be- 
lieved that I came out from God.' Thus, instead of en- 
gaging to make prayer and supplication to the Father in 
behalf of those who believe. in Him, He expressly assures 
them that He will not do so. Eightly to believe in Him, 
also, is, He declares, to believe that He came out from God; 
which means, to believe that His Humanity is an imme- 
diate evolution from His Divine Essence. 

" Hence again we see that the Lord's Humanity is the 
Medium by which we gain access to His Divinity, and are 
brought into communication with it, just as by the medium 



180 CALL TO THE STEW JERUSALEM. 

of a man's body we gain access to, and have communica- 
tion with his soul. The Lord teaches the same truth in 
the most direct form when He says, i I am the door : by 
Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in 
and out and find pasture' (John x. 9). What is the door 
but the medium of access? And that, to obtain such 
access, we are not to address the naked Divinity imme- 
diately, but the Lord Jesus Christ as the Divine Person of 
the Father, He again teaches when He says, ' Verily, verily, 
I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the 
sheepfokl, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a 
thief and a robber' (ver. 1). 

" Altogether it seems abundantly evident, that the Me- 
diatorship of Jesus Christ does not consist in His intro- 
ducing us, by entreaty or any other means, to the favor of 
a God out of and separate from Himself; but in His having 
assumed and glorified a Humanity to afford a Medium of 
access to the Divinity which dwells in fulness in it. Let 
us then, instead of thinking to climb up some other way, 
enter in ' by a new and living way which He hath conse- 
crated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh' 
(Heb. x. 20) — that Humanity, which He has deified and 
united to Deity to be for men the Medium of approach to 
God!" 

XXVI. 

The Cross. 

NOR does the doctrine of the Cross owe its origin to 
the Christian era, but is as ancient, perhaps, as the 
knowledge of immortality of which it is the symbol. The 
Crux ansata is indeed one of the most ancient relics of a true 
religion, and is found among the sculptures of the Egyp- 
tians of the most remote antiquity, with whom it denoted 
eternal life. Mr. Gliddon, in one of his lectures, says he 
'had seen in a remote quarry in middle Egypt, a figure 
designed to represent the Saviour, drawn as if appended, 
not to a Cross, but to this symbol of immortality. The 



THE CROSS. 181 

Cross had therefore the same meaning with them as with 
us; it was the type of the life everlasting beyond the tomb.' 
In the destruction of the temple of Serapis (at Alexandria) 
by the Christians, the Cross was found in many parts of 
the building; and Sozomenes, in writing the history of 
the Church, speaking of the temple of Serapis, says: 'It 
is reported that when this temple was destroyed, there 
appeared some of those characters called hieroglyphics, 
surrounding the sign of the Cross, in engraven stones ; and 
that by the skillful in these matters, these hieroglyphics 
were held to have signified this inscription : ' The Life 
to come.' Socrates (the historian) makes the statement, 
and says, the words were found to indicate, ' Salvation 
a:n"d Life to Come.' The two principal Pagodas of India 
(Benares and Mathura), are also built in the form of 
Crosses. In China, the Cross is one of the most ancient 
relics of their worship, and in one of the sacred books of 
that country, has lately been deciphered from their enig- 
matical writings, the following sentence : ' La croix devant 
les yeux regie le cceur des hommes;' or The Cross before 
the eyes governs the heart of man. This Cross, says Mr. 
Squier, which is similar to the sacred Tau, and not unlike 
the Mexican Tree of Life (which undoubtedly is its origin), 
is not only discovered in the hands of Egyptian and Assy- 
rian Divinities as the sign of life, but is sometimes depend- 
ant from the necks of their deified Serpents. 'Pontiffs 
and prelates (says Volney), that crucifix of which you 
boast the mystery, without comprehending it, is the Cross 
of Serapis, traced by the hands of Egyptian priests on the 
plan of the figurative world, which, passing through the 
equinoxes and the tropics, became the emblem of future 
life and resurrection, because it touched the gates of ivory 
and horn, through which the soul was to pass on its way 
to heaven.' — The Two Great Boohs. 

" But the Cross did not then, as now, mean a penal cru- 
cifixion, nor were any painful ideas ever associated with 
this emblem ; on the contrary, all its associations were 



182 CALL TO THE KEW JERUSALEM. 

joyful and pleasant. Milnian, in his ' History of Chris- 
tianity/ says the Cross was the symbol of Christianity, or 
of a true faith, 'many centuries before the Crucifix. It 
was rather a cheerful and consolatory, than a depressing 
and melancholy sign; it was adorned with flowers, with 
crowns and precious stones, a pledge of the resurrection, 
rather than a memorial of the passion. The catacombs of 
Borne, faithful to their general character, offer no instance 
of a crucifixion, nor does any allusion to such a subject of 
art occur in any early writers. Cardinal Bona gives the 
following as the progress of the gradual change : 1st, The 
simple Cross ; 2d, The Cross, with the Lamb at the foot of 
it; 3d, Christ clothed on the Cross, with hands uplifted in 
prayer, but not nailed to it; 4th, Christ fastened to the 
Cross, with four nails, still living, and with open eyes. He 
was not represented as dead, till the tenth or eleventh 
century. There is some reason to believe that the bust of 
the Saviour first appeared on the Cross, and afterwards the 
whole person. The head was at first erect, with some 
expression of Divinity ; by degrees it drooped with the 
agony of pain, the face was wan and furrowed, and death, 
with all its anguish, was imitated by the utmost power of 
coarse art ; mere corporeal suffering without sublimity, all 
that was painful in truth, with nothing that was tender 
and affecting. This change took place among monkish 
artists of the lower empire. Those of the order of St. Basil 
introduced it into the West, and from that time these 
painful images, with those of martyrdom, and every scene 
of suffering which could be imagined by the gloomy fancy 
of anchorites, who could not be moved by less violent 
excitement, spread throughout Christendom/ Thus it is 
only in these latter days that the true meaning of the 
Cross is lost ; its pure and genuine symbolism was coeval 
with the revelation to man of the joys of the world beyond 
the grave." — Rev. O. Field. 

That a meaning is attached to the cross in the sacred 
Scriptures very different from the literal idea at present 



THE CROSS. 183 

so generally entertained, must be manifest to every atten- 
tive reader. Our Saviour says not unfrequently, that he 
who would be his disciple, must take up his cross and 
follow Him. " I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless, 
I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me," says the 
Apostle. 

"The cross," says Swedenborg, "signifies temptations;" 
and " to take up the cross is to fight against our inclina- 
tions to evil, and to follow the Lord is to acknowledge 
Him to be God." To acknowledge the Lord and to resist 
and overcome in temptations is the way which leads to 
eternal life, of which the cross has ever been emblematical. 
The Lord, by the passion of the cross, did not take away 
sins, but He bore them. " The Lord Jesus," says Eev. 
John Hyde, "speaking of the law upon which David is so 
eloquent, declares that, ( I am not come to destroy the law 
and the prophets, but to fulfiF (Matt. v. 17). Not to 
fulfil iu the sense of abolishing, but in the sense of filling- 
full, as Johnson defines the word, * to fill till there is room 
for no more.' The Lord's meaning is illustrated in the 
context. The law against murder is filled-full so as to in- 
clude hatred and enmity. The law against adultery is 
filled-full so as to embrace all sinful desire and lust. The 
law is not only applied to external acts, but also to in- 
ternal wishes and thoughts ; thus showing that the law 
has a spiritual pertinence, and therefore a spiritual signi- 
fication." 

Eternal life is a life of genuine love to the Lord and the 
neighbor, and it is only by taking up our cross, suffering, 
resisting, and overcoming in temptations, and following 
the Lord in the regeneration, that this heavenly state can 
be reached. To fall in temptations, and yield to our 
hereditary or acquired inclinations to evil, is to die spirit- 
ually: and when we come to a state in which we are 
ruled exclusively by that which is false and evil, as we 
shall, if we do not repent and follow the Lord, then all 
heavenly life will have perished in our souls ; for we will 



184 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

have no love for that which is really good and true— only 
selfishness. 

But the reader, to understand fully this grand doctrine 
of the cross and its spiritual signification, must read the 
writings of Swedenborg, for it is impossible in a few words 
to even begin to do justice to it. If we shall be successful 
in seriously calling the attention of the reader to the vast 
treasures of spiritual knowledge revealed by the Lord 
through him for the special benefit of the men of this age, 
we shall have accomplished all that we could reasonably 
expect. We do not expect in this short treatise to answer 
satisfactorily all the questions of the honest inquirer after 
truth, nor to silence the skeptical scoffer ; but the earnest 
inquirer will be abundantly, and more than satisfied, if he 
will read diligently the writings of the Swedish seer. 

XXVII. 
A True and Heavenly Life. 

THAT a man should lead a good and true life, repent, 
shun evils as sins against God, and do good to his 
fellow-man, in order to reach happiness and heaven, was 
not unknown to the ancients long before the days of 
Moses ; nor is this knowledge confined at this day to 
Christian nations, but is to be found, more or less per- 
verted, among all nations on earth ; having descended 
either by tradition or in a written form from the ancient 
or Church of Noah. 

The following precepts were among the accepted teach- 
ings of the ancient Druids : 

"Believe nothing without examination; but when 
reason and evidence will warrant the conclusion, believe 
everything; and let prejudice be unknown. Search for 
truth on all occasions, and espouse it in opposition to the" 
world." 

"Light is the emblem of purity, holiness and truth — 
the emblem of the source of all good, and of all mental (or 



A TRUE ATO HEAVEKLY LIFE. 185 

spiritual) illumination. Every act of the Bard (or the 
inspired instructor or teacher of the people) must be done 
in the eye of the light" 

" Pride is that passion by which a person assumes more 
than the laws of nature (the laws of nature are the laws 
of God) allow him ; for all persons are equal, though 
differently stationed in the state of humanity, for the 
common good. Whoever assumes such a superiority is an 
usurper, and he attaches himself thereby to evil to such a 
degree that his soul falls at death into the lowest point of 
existence." 

" One infallible rule of duty is, not to do anything, or 
desire to do it, but what can eternally be done, and ob- 
tained in the celestial state where no evil can exist. The 
good and happiness of one being must not arise from the 
evil or misery of another." 

In Johnson's "Kambler" is given the following trans- 
lation of a prayer of the pagan Simplicius, which is full 
of fervent and genuine piety : 

(i O Thou, whose pow'r o'er moving worlds presides, 
Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides ! 
On darkling man in pure effulgence shine, 
And cheer the clouded mind with light Divine, 
"lis Thine alone to calm the pious breast, 
With silent confidence and holy rest ; 
From Thee, great Jove, we spring, to Thee we tend, 
Path, motive, guide, Original, and end." 

Plato, Pythagoras, and other "ancient heathens," breathe 
the same spirit, and look to the same Infinite and eternal 
One, who is thus addressed on behalf of the sinner: 
" Great Jove ! Father of man ! free them from those 
evils, or discover to them the demon they employ ! " And, 
addressing man : " Consider all things well, governing 
thyself by reason, and setting it in the uppermost place. 
And when thou art divested of thy mortal body, and 
arrived in the most pure ether, thou shalt be exalted 
among the immortal gods (angels), be incorruptible and 



186 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

never more know death." The Prayer of Pythagoras, as 
thus versified by Mr. Adams, is also full of vital and 
practical religion : 

' ' Let not soft slumber close thine eyes, 
Before thou recollectest thrice 
The train of actions through the day : 
Where have my feet found out their way ? 
What have I learned where'er I've been, 
From all I've heard, from all I've seen 1 
What know I more that's worth the knowing? 
What have I done that's worth the doing ? 
What have I sought that I should shun ? 
What duty have I left undone ? 
Or, into what new follies run ? 
These self enquiries are the road 
That leads to virtue, and to God." 

"Indeed," says the Eev. George Field, "it is abundantly 
evident that, both as to faith and life, there never has been 
but one religion, however much it may have been per- 
verted, lost, or prostituted to improper purposes, for that 
' which is now called the Christian religion (says St. 
Augustine) really was known to the ancients, nor was 
wanting at any time from the beginning of the human 
race, until the time when Christ came into the flesh; 
from whence the true religion, which had previously 
existed, began to be called Christian ; and this in our days 
is the Christian religion, not as having been wanting in 
former times, but as having in latter times received this 
name.' " 

In the revelations made by the Lord through Emanuel 
Swedenborg, on the " Doctrine of Life for the New Jeru- 
salem," we read: "That all religion has relation to life, 
and that the life of religion is to do good. Every one, 
who has any religion, knows and acknowledges, that who- 
soever lives well will be saved, and that whosoever lives 
wickedly will be condemned ; for he knows and acknowl- 
edges, that whosoever lives well, thinks well, not only 
concerning God, but also concerning his neighbor, whereas 



A TRUE AND HEAVENLY LIFE. 187 

it is otherwise with him who lives wickedly. The life of 
man is his love, and what a man loves, he not only does 
willingly, bnt also thinks willingly." 

This accords strictly with the Lord's teaching when on 
earth. " If any man will do his will he shall know of the 
doctrine whether it be of Cod." The Psalmist declares 
that "a good understanding have all they that do His 
commandments." 

The more earnestly, then, we strive to ultimate in 
external life the truth we already have, the more clearly 
shall we be able to see the truth. Man is not saved by 
faith or truth alone for it becomes no part of him — it does 
not enter his life until he strives to live in accordance 
with it, and thus unites it with goodness. The Lord's 
commandments are simply Laws of Spiritual Life, which 
we must earnestly strive to keep, if we would enter into 
eternal life — or a life of love to the Lord and neighbor, 
which alone is genuine life, or heavenly life. How clearly 
and beautifully the Lord teaches this great doctrine of 
Life. "If ye love me, keep my commandments." "If 
thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." 

The Lord when on earth declared that He came "not 
to destroy the Law but to fulfil ;" and we must strive to 
follow His blessed example, not only as to external acts, 
but also as to the thoughts of the understanding and 
affections of the will. St. Paul declares truly that "by 
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." While it is 
quite evident that he referred more especially to the cere- 
monial laws of the Jewish Church, and not to the Ten 
Commandments, still there is a sense in which it is true, 
that by the works of the law man is not justified; for 
good external acts done from purely selfish motives, such 
as love of money, power, or glory, have not heavenly life 
within them ; and when the evils we are commanded by 
the Lord not to do, are shunned simply through worldly 
fear, or from selfish motives, and not shunned because 
they are sins against God, or a violation of His laws, and 



188 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

will affect our spiritual well-being in this world and the 
next, our motives or hearts are not changed. Faith in 
the Lord is essential, but faith without works, says St. 
James, is dead, being alone. "But wilt thou know, 
yain man, that faith without works is dead ? " " Seest 
thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was 
faith made perfect? " "Ye see then how that by works a 
man is justified, and not by faith only?" "For as the 
body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is 
dead also." 

In the New Jerusalem now descending out of Heaven, 
faith and charity will be reunited; for, in its teachings, 
the Lord's dealings with His children have again been 
clearly revealed, not for the first or second time, but as 

distinctly as they were to Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekie^Land 

the Jewish people of old, and the disciples of our Lord 
when He was on earth. Whenever faith, or Cain, destroys 
charity, or Abel, in the Lord's church on earth, the 
church has reached its end, for the Word of the Lord is 
rendered of none effect by the doctrines and traditions of 
men, and nothing but a new revelation of Divine truth 
can rescue our race from destruction — or preserve heavenly 
life on earth. The Lord provides that a remnant shall be 
left in the expiring church who are ready to hearken anew 
to the word of the Lord in its integrity. 

When, at the command of the Lord, Jeremiah went 
down to the potter's house, how clear was the message : 
"0 house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? 
saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's 
hand, so are ye in mine hand, house of Israel. At what 
instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning 
a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy 
it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn 
from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to 
do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak con- 
cerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and 
to plant it ; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my 



A TRUE AOT HEAVENLY LIFE. 189 

voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I 
would benefit them" (Jer. xviii.). 

And so in Ezekiel, " The soul that sinneth, it shall die. 
The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither 
shall the father bear the iniquity of the son ; the righteous- 
ness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wicked- 
ness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the wicked 
will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and 
keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and 
right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his trans- 
gressions that he hath committed, they shall not be men- 
tioned unto him : in his righteousness that he hath done 
he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked 
should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should 
return from his ways and live ? But when the righteous 
turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth in- 
iquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that 
the wicked man doeth, shall he live ? All his righteous- 
ness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his 
trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he 
hath sinned, in them shall he die" (Ezek. xviii.). 

But in the same chapter, after declaring that He will 
judge every one according to his ways, the Lord calls most 
affectionately and earnestly upon all sinners to repent 
and turn from all their transgressions; so that iniquity 
shall not be their ruin. In great mercy He exclaims: 
"Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye 
have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new 
spirit; for why will ye die, house of Israel ? For I 
have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the 
Lord God : wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye ; " and 
this call is to every sinner— to even the worst— it is the 
call of Divine love. 

How plain, how simple is the Bible scheme of salvation! 
No unwillingness on our Heavenly Father's part to forgive 
and receive the returning sinner. He even beholds him 
when afar off; yes, and stands at the door of his heart, and 



190 CALL TO THE XEW JERUSALEM, 

knocks, and cries unto him, "Seek, and ye shall find; 
knock, and it shall be opened unto you/' There is no 
intimation of either any vicarious punishment or a substi- 
tute being required. Our heavenly Father, the Lord 
Jesus Christ— or God in Christ— is to-day reconciling the 
world unto Himself, and does not require being recon- 
ciled unto the sinner, for He is more ready to forgive the 
repentant sinner than any earthly parent is to forgive his 
erring but repentant child ; so He has assured us. The 
way of Life, as unveiled by Divine Revelation, although 
straight and narrow, is so plain that the wayfaring man, 
though a fool, need not err therein. The sinner has but 
to turn his course and stop sinning, or violating the 
Divine commands, in the acts of his every-day life ; and 
by thus seeking the Lord he opens his understanding and 
heart to the Divine Truth and love; and he will find 
strength gradually to banish evil thoughts and inclina- 
tions, and thus to become a new creature — " a man " — 
"an angel." Man has simply to open the door of his 
spirit, and co-operate with the Lord by striving to do as 
He requires, and the Lord will create in him a new heart, 
and renew in him a right spirit. 

Regeneration is not the work of a day, and of course is 
not instantaneous ; in fact, as we have seen in considering 
the first chapters of Genesis, it is the work of a Lifetime, 
and at this day is rarely completed in this world. The 
Lord likens it to a birth, and says we must be born again. 
When we repent and acknowledge the Lord, and, looking 
to Him, sincerely resolve to stop sinning, and set about it, 
then is the beginning of a new life in us — a bare begin- 
ning, and day by day, as we strive to shun evils and do 
right, is the new resolve or will strengthened ; but many a 
day of conflict is before us — yes, many a year before the 
old man is put off, and the new man put on, and we reach 
the stature of a renewed man. All heavenly life is from 
the Lord, and if we live according to the laws of such life 
—the Commandments — spiritual health and heavenly life, 



A TRUE AND HEAVENLY LIFE. 191 

which is real life, will as surely flow in, as natural life and 
health will, when we live according to natural laws. Cause 
and effect are as operative in the one case as in the other ; 
— God is the bountiful giver in both cases, man is simply 
a recipient, he has no life of himself; without Divine aid 
he can do nothing, but he has only to ask aright to receive 
the aid he needs. 

When the young man declared that " all these have I 
observed from my youth, then Jesus beholding him loved 
him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy 
way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and 
thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; and come, take up the 
cross, and follow me." By this, in the spiritual sense, is 
understood that he should reject the falses which were the 
doctrine of the Jewish nation, and receive the doctrine of 
truth from the Lord ; and that he was to undergo conflicts 
and temptations from falses, signified by taking up the 
cross and following the Lord, without which there could 
be no salvation. It is not enough to keep the command- 
ments from selfish motives, but we must acknowledge the 
Lord in all things. 

Turn we now to the last and closing chapter of the 
Divine Word, and we find the following sublime language : 
" Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to 
give every man according as his work shall be. I am 
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first 
and the last. Blessed are they that do his command- 
ments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and 
may enter in through the gates into the city." Amen. 
Even so come Lord Jesus, into every understanding and 
every heart. 

XXYIII. 

The End of the "World and the Second Coming 
of the Lord. 

"A 1STD as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples 
Jl\- came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when 



192 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

shall these things be ? and what shall be the sign of Thy 
coming, and of the end of the world ? " (Matt. xxiy. 3. ) 

"The 'End of the World/" says the Kev. Wm. B. 
Hayden, from whose excellent work for new readers, 
"Light on Last Things," we have selected a large portion 
of the contents of this section, "is a subject which has 
attracted considerable attention. That such an event is 
to take place has long been a doctrine in the Christian 
world. It has been supposed that this habitable globe will 
be destroyed, the ground or earth be consumed by fire, the 
stars fall from the visible heavens overhead, the heavens 
themselves being rolled together like a scroll, be swept 
from existence, the history of nations cease, and the birth 
or propagation of mankind come to an end. 

" These views have been drawn from the sacred Scrip- 
ture. Two classes of passages in the Bible have been 
supposed to teach or imply them, viz. : first, those in 
which, as in the above, the end of the world is distinctly 
spoken of, and secondly, those others in which the sun, 
moon, and stars are spoken of as falling from their places 
or being darkened, the sea being no more, and the earth 
as being .destroyed, or purified, or burned up by fire. 

"We believe, according to the repeated declarations 
made by the Lord in the volume of His Word, that He 
hath created the earth and established it that it may abide 
for ever; that He hath given it fixed foundations that it 
cannot be moved ; that He made it to be inhabited, and 
that He hath given it as a permanent possession to the 
children of men. * One generation passeth away and an- 
other cometh, but the earth abideth for ever.' 

" We are told by Swedenborg that the object which our 
heavenly Father has in view is the formation of a heaven 
out of the human race, which may go on increasing in 
purity, in happiness, and in numbers to eternity. The 
earth, therefore, is required as a seminary for heaven— as 
a place for the birth and education of the human race— as 
a place from which the population of heaven may be 



THE LORD'S SECOND COMING. 193 

continually increased by the emigration of good people 
from this world to the other through the process of 
natural death. 

" Hence we believe that the earth will endure ; that men 
will not cease to be born and grow up on this planet. No 
outward change will come to break up the onward flow of 
human history. The nations will go on and develop as 
heretofore. The stars will move on in their courses, and 
all the visible heavens remain as they are. The solid 
framework of the globe will abide. Its surface will remain 
undisturbed, save as it may be gradually altered by the 
operation of certain geological forces which are con- 
stantly at work. The population of the globe will increase, 
and one who should revisit this earth a thousand years 
from now — a hundred thousand years from now. — will 
find it much as it is at present in its essential features; 
only more populous, civilization more advanced, and more 
widely extended, the Gospel more diffused, more unity of 
sentiment on the great themes of religion, and men on 
the whole, at the end of each great cycle, possessed of 
more- wisdom and endowed with greater degrees of good- 
ness, morality, and social order. 

"It will naturally be asked, then, How do we dispose of 
the two classes of passages in Scripture commonly under- 
stood to predict the destruction of the world ? And to 
this question we will endeavor briefly to reply. 

" 1. When we lay aside our common translation of the 
Bible and turn to the Greek Testament, we do not find 
the ' end of the world ' foretold at all. There is no such 
expression there. Nor is there any phrase or expression 
that answers to it. 

" There is in the Greek a common and familiar word to 
express our idea of the visible world. And that word is 
Kosmos. It is peculiarly and distinctively fitted to trans- 
late it, standing in the Greek mind for just the idea that 
our common word world does in the English mind ; mean- 
ing sometimes visible nature, and sometimes also the men 
9 



194 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

inhabiting visible nature. Now this word was familiar to 
the writers of the New Testament in just this sense, and 
they constantly employed it in this sense. Whenever they 
desired to speak of the world of nature, or of the world of 
men inhabiting nature, they used the term Kosmos. It 
occurs no less than a hundred and ninety-one times in this 
sense in the New Testament, and is always so translated 
in our common version. We see, therefore, what they said 
when they wanted to say world ; they said Kosmos. 

" Now this phrase which we are here considering, ' end 
of the world/ occurs seven times in our copies of the New 
Testament ; five times in Matthew, and twice in the Epis- 
tles of Paul. But in these seven cases the word Kosmos 
is not used. It is never said that the Kosmos is going to 
come to an end, but another term is employed. The word 
Alan is introduced to denote that which closes up or comes 
to an end. It is always the end of the Alon that is fore- 
told, and of the Alon only. Now this is a term which 
relates to time, expressing the idea of duration or length. 
It answers very nearly to our word age; and means the 
period or cycle through which anything lasts. This will 
be found by consulting the common lexicons of New 
Testament Greek. Different things have their aion or age, 
the period through which they endure. Thus the age of 
man is said to be seventy years; a tree has its age; an 
empire has its aion or period of endurance. And so there 
are great aions or ages, or periods in the Church, under 
successive Divine dispensations, and the- aion or age is the 
time during which a dispensation lasts. Thus the period 
from Adam to Noah constituted one of these ages or 
Divine dispensations, which was brought to an end by the 
flood. The Jewish aion, age, or dispensation, commencing 
from the call of Abraham, or from Moses, was finished or 
came to an end when our Lord appeared in the world. 

"In two of these seven instances where this phrase is 
used in the New Testament it is applied to the Jewish dis- 
pensation, viz. : 1 Cor. x. 11, and Heb. ix. 26. The Apos- 



THE LORD'S SECOND COMING. 195 

tie refers to the termination of the Jewish age, the Jewish 
order of things in the Church, saying in one place, 'Now 
all these things happened unto them for examples : and 
they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends 
of the loorld are come.' Here we see that the Apostle 
declares himself and brethren to be living at the time of 
the end of the world, if we accept the common translation. 
But he did not mean to say that. He says that they are 
living at the end of an alon or a series of alons, meaning 
thereby the end of the Jewish age or dispensation, and of 
those which had preceded; and hence Conybeare and 
Howson (clergymen of the Church of England, wno have 
given us the best translation of the Epistles) render this 
passage, ' Now all these things befell them as shadows of 
things to come ; and they are written for our warning, on 
whom the ends of tlie ages are come.' This is the proper 
translation. 

" So, in the other passage, Heb. ix. 26, speaking of our 
Lord, the Apostle says : * But now once in the end of the 
world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of 
Himself.' 

" Now, if we accept the common translation, the end of 
the world was to be then, at the first coming of our Lord. 
But it did not happen then. Nor did the Apostle mean 
to say that it would. Conybeare and Howson render this 
passage, 'But now once in the end of the ages hath He 
appeared, to do away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.' 
This is the correct translation, for the word here occurs 
in the plural, as in the other passage just cited. Dr. 
Robinson, in his lexicon of the New Testament, says that 
the Apostle in these two instances undoubtedly refers to 
the end of the Jewish dispensation ; and such is the com- 
mon consent of scholars. 

In Matthew, in the five instances named, the word occurs 
each time in the singular, the end of the age, and is used by 
our Lord to designate the time when the last judgment 
should occur in the world of the departed, the first Chris- 



196 CALL TO THE KEW JERUSALEM. 

tian age or apostolical dispensation cease, and the age and 
dispensation of the latter-day church, i. e. the New Jeru- 
salem, should commence. In the writings of the New 
Jerusalem this phrase is translated the consummation of 
the age, which is equivalent to the closing or winding up 
of the dispensation ; a rendering which is now everywhere 
concurred in by the best scholarship of the time. 

" Thus, it will be perceived, that, in accordance with our 
Lord's words, we are not looking for the destruction of the 
world, nor for violent commotions in visible, material 
nature, but for important changes, and the commencement 
of a new order of things with respect to the church, both 
in the spiritual world and in the natural world ; or in the 
world of spirits and in the world of men ; a new age already 
commenced, and now progressing." 

The material universe and all things in it having been 
created by the Lord, every natural thing and object cor- 
responds, as we have seen, to spiritual things. We read in 
the holy Word that "the Lord God is a Sun," and Swe- 
denborg assures us that He is the sun of the spiritual 
world, to which the natural sun corresponds. Thus, 
according to the science of correspondences, the material 
sun corresponds to the spiritual sun, or the Lord; the 
light from the sun corresponds to the divine truth, for 
truth is spiritual light; the heat of the sun. corresponds to 
the divine love, for love is spiritual heat. The light and 
heat of the material sun illuminate and warm the body 
and material earth, as truth and love from the Lord do the 
spirit of man and the mental earth. 

"Now, in the church, the first thing is charity, or more 
properly perhaps, love, heavenly love — love to God and 
love to man. This is the central principle. And when 
this love is vigorous and active and alive in the church, 
then the sun shines, for the Lord, who is the real sun of 
the spiritual universe, sheds down the light of His counte-. 
nance upon us. We see Him as He is; while we are 
warmed and vivified by the rays of His Spirit." 



THE LORD'S SECOND COMING. 197 

The eyes correspond to the understanding, for they 
receive natural light as the latter does spiritual light, or 
truth. The heart corresponds to the will, or affections; 
for it is easy to perceive that it serves the same purpose in 
the material body that the will does in the spiritual body. 
Paul assures us that " there is a spiritual body, and there 
is a natural body." The material, being but the clothing 
of the spiritual, must correspond to the latter in every 
particular, for the material has been fashioned and moulded 
into form by the spiritual. 

The natural clouds and atmosphere modify and adapt 
the light and heat of the natural sun to man's natural 
eyes; they therefore correspond to the clouds of heaven, 
or the literal sense of the sacred Scriptures, which modifies 
and adapts the divine truth and love, or spiritual light and 
heat, to man's spiritual vision. The clouds in which the 
Lord was to come, then, were the clouds of the letter of 
His Holy Word. 

" Now the Lord makes His appearance in these clouds, 
the types and symbols of the letter of His Word, as. soon as 
the heavenly meaning of the symbols are made clear, and 
they all are seen to relate to Him. In the revelation of 
the spiritual sense of the Word, which is everywhere vailed 
in its letter, every type, every figure, and every circum- 
stance, in history or psalm or prophecy, is seen to relate to 
the Lord, and to represent His work for and within human 
souls. And it is in the accomplishment of this purely 
divine work of opening the Holy Scriptures, and revealing 
for the church the existence, nature, and particular truths 
of their spiritual sense that the Lord comes in the clouds 
of heaven. He comes, for the whole Word reveals Him, 
and His work ; He comes in the clouds because they are 
the images of the letter of the Word, which, being inter- 
preted, reveal Him. This is known "because it is an 
accomplished fact; and the event has explained and 
proved the Apocalypse." — Rev. L. P. Mercer. 

The sun which was to be darkened at His coming was 



198 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

not the material sun, but the heavenly sun, or the Loid. 
When darkness prevails in the world, it is not because the 
sun does not shine, but because either the earth turns 
from the sun, or some opaque object intervenes between 
the sun and the earth. It is precisely so in regard to the 
spiritual sun ; for the Lord's truth and love, or spiritual 
light and heat, ever flow down through the Holy Scrip- 
tures to man ; .but spiritual darkness is caused by man's 
turning from the Lord and His Word to the traditions of 
men, and his own self-derived intelligence, and coming to 
love himself, power, money, and sensual gratifications 
more than he loves the Lord and his neighbor. 

" Thus, when charity wanes or dies out, or, as our Lord 
expresses it, when true Christian ' love waxes cold,' then 
it is said in the prophets that the sun goes down or be- 
comes darkened; because, as we at such times withdraw 
from the Lord, hiding, as it were, our faces from Him, the 
light of His countenance fails to reach us, ceasing thus to 
shine upon and influence us." 

The moon, giving but a reflected light with compara- 
tively little heat, corresponds to faith; and its becoming 
as blood, denotes that true faith in the Lord would be 
destroyed. 

" That is, when there is an eclipse of faith in the church, 
when there is doubt and obscurity, and only a half-way be- 
lief in the higher spiritual truths taught in the Scriptures, 
men knowing hardly what to believe, then the moon is 
said to withdraw her shining, or to be turned to blood, the 
appearance presented in a literal eclipse." 

The stars of heaven, which were to fall to the earth, 
were not the material stars, but the knowledges of good- 
ness and truth, or spiritual stars, seen and revealed in the 
sacred Scriptures to guide our footsteps in states of mental 
darkness and doubt, and to which our Saviour appealed in 
hours of temptation. These glorious truths, or stars, do 
indeed fall to the earth when man drags them down to the 
justification of a perverted, sensual, earthly and evil life, 



THE LOED'S SECOND COMING. 199 

expecting to escape the legitimate consequences of his acts, 
and to reach heaven in the end by an easier way than by 
striving daily and earnestly to live a life according to the 
commandments and the Lord's sayings. 

" When the knowledges of Divine and heavenly things, 
the teaching of Holy Scripture, fade from the memories 
of men, and they forget them, no longer recurring to them 
in thought, but grope on without them, immersed in the 
thought and feeling of selfish and worldly things, then the 
stars are said to fall from their places, or to cease from 
shining, and so disappear. For at such times the whole 
heaven becomes dark; men no longer look up. There is 
no longer any illumination as to spiritual things. And 
He who came to be the light of the world is no longer able 
to shine at such times, or in such a class of minds, by any 
of the lamps of His truth. 

"Such being the meaning of this symbolism, therefore, 
at one place in the Prophet Isaiah, where the New Jeru- 
salem is spoken of, after it shall have arrived at its full, 
and so, a happy and prosperous state of the church is 
depicted as coming in the latter times, there a contrary 
form of speaking is employed ; and to the church there 
addressed it is said, ' Thy sun shall no more go down, 
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself ; for the Lord shall 
be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning 
shall be ended ;' whereby is signified and meant the last or 
full state of the true Christian Church in the latter times ; 
described also in the last chapter of Revelation, in which 
charity or love shall no more decay, nor genuine, rational, 
and living faith become extinct." 

It will be seen, as has already been intimated, that the 
coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven was not 
to be in the material clouds of earth, but in the Word in 
its literal sense — which constitutes the clouds of heaven — 
revealing its spirit and life; for it is through the letter of 
the Word that man receives spiritual light and heat, or 
truth and love, as he receives natural light and heat 
**^ugh the natural clouds and atmosphere. 



200 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

The Holy City, New Jerusalem, which was to descend 
from the Lord out of heaven, at the time of His second 
coming, was not to be a literal city of twelve thousand 
furlongs, of equal length, breadth and height, but a new 
church or dispensation to be established by the Lord at 
the end of the first Christian Church or dispensation. A 
city corresponds to a church as to doctrine, for men dwell 
in a city naturally as they do in a church spiritually. The 
gates of a city correspond to the introductory truths which 
lead to the church ; the streets of a city correspond to all 
things of truth which lead to good, or all things of faith 
which lead to love and charity, in which men should 
abide, and whereas truths become of good, and thus trans- 
parent from good, the street of the New Jerusalem is said 
to be pure gold as transparent glass. The foundations of 
a wall signify the knowledges of truth, whereupon doc- 
trinals are founded, and the walls of a city correspond to 
the truths and doctrines in the letter of the sacred Scrip- 
tures by which the church is defended and preserved. 
That Jerusalem signifies the church in the language of the 
sacred Scriptures has been recognized among Christians, 
and it is manifest that the New Jerusalem must signify a 
new church. 

There are not wanting commentators, who, within the 
last few years, simply by studying the Scriptures, without 
a knowledge of the revelations contained in the writings 
of Swedenborg, have come to the conclusion that the lan- 
guage predicting the end of the world, and the Second 
Coming, is figurative or symbolical. " Thus," says Eev. 
Wm. B. Hayden, "writers increase who give up all belief 
in a physical catastrophe. An opening of the Divine 
prophecies according to the laws of correspondence ren- 
ders clear all the subjects to which they relate ; it removes 
the obscurities and brings us face to face with those great 
realities of which the Bible treats. It enlightens our 
minds by disclosing the actual meaning of the Scriptures 
and placing before our thought the enduring truths of 
heaven and the church. 



THE LOKD'S SECOND COMING. 201 

"We have already seen they are the interpretations 
which the Scriptures themselves, when rightly examined, 
induce us to put upon them. They are the Lord's own 
commentary on His own book. They express exactly 
what the Bible says and means when it is allowed to bring 
out its whole thought. 

" It is the mode of interpretation that our Lord and His 
apostles applied to the Oid Testament Scriptures when 
they came and told the Jews that they were no longer to 
look for the establishment of a great earthly kingdom, 
but only for a new spiritual kingdom ; that the Messiah, 
instead of being a great earthly Monarch, of vast power 
and influence, sitting upon the literal throne of David, was 
a spiritual Monarch, ruling by the convincing power of His 
truth, and through the influences of His Spirit upon the 
hearts of men. It seems to us that Christianity is a 
broader, more interesting, more real, more important fact 
than a universal Jewish empire would have been though 
it had covered the whole earth ; while the spiritual fact is 
for more useful to mankind than the literal fact would 
have been. 

" And so now, we get clear, definite, rational, consistent 
views of the higher, nobler, and more enduring realities 
by opening our eyes to the spiritual sense and meaning of 
Divine prophecy and Holy Scripture, than by confining 
our thoughts to the mere letter or outward symbol of the 
Bible; the shell or husk in which the pure wheat of 
heavenly truth lies enclosed, and to some concealed. 

" An event which affects the mental and spiritual states 
of mankind, operating to mould their character and their 
destiny through a succession of ages, is far greater, and 
holds a better place in the memories of men, than one 
which affects merely physical bodies, like convulsions of 
the earth. How little do we remember or care to recall 
the great eruption of Vesuvius which overwhelmed the 
cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum ! The simple preach- 
ing of Paul in the city of Rome was a more significant 



202 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

fact, and one which lives more vividly in the hearts of 
men." 

If the reader would understand fully the prophecies in 
regard to the end of the world and the Second Coming 
of the Lord, and especially if he would understand the 
signs of the present times, and the wonderful age in which 
we live, he must read the writings of Emanuel Sweden- 
borg, especially the "Apocalypse Kevealed;" and a new 
world of affection, thought and beauty, will be opened to 
his astonished vision. 

XXIX. 

The Resurrection. 

"There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body." 
In order that we may understand clearly the great doctrine 
of the Resurrection, it is all-important that we bear in 
mind this enunciation of the Apostle. He does not say 
there is now a natural body, and there shall hereafter be a 
spiritual body ; but he says, there is a natural body, and 
there is a spiritual body. If we remember this great truth, 
the scriptural doctrine of the Resurrection will be found 
to be very clear and beautiful. 

We should also bear in mind, that the Scriptures treat 
of two kinds of life, two kinds of death, two kinds of 
resurrection, and two kinds of graves. First, Of natural 
life, and of spiritual life or the life of regeneration —life of 
love to the Lord and the neighbor, the result of the new 
birth, or of being born again. Second, Death of the 
material body, and being dead in trespasses and sins — the 
state of man previous to regeneration ; and finally, if man 
does not allow himself to be regenerated, the death of all 
heavenly affections or of love to the Lord and his neigh- 
bor in his soul, when he comes to be completely ruled by 
selfishness — the second death. Third, The resurrection 
of the spiritual body from the natural body when the latter 
dies, and the resurrection from the unregenerate state to 



THE RESURRECTION. 203 

the heavenly state, which results from the new birth. 
Fourth, The grave of the natural body, from which the 
spirit is raised when the body dies, and the grave denoted 
by the lifeless and dead state of those who are dead in 
trespasses and sins. 

Man, while he lives here, is a spirit clothed with matter. 
The material body is constantly changing; particles are 
being worn out and cast off; and new ones are received, 
which take their place. The body increases during child- 
hood and youth, remains comparatively stationary during 
adult life, and gradually withers as old age approaches. 
Why all these changes? Do the particles of matter, or 
the articles of food we eat, possess the power and capacity 
of changing themselves into living structures? and do 
they possess the intelligence to see when their services are 
no longer needed ? 

Every one can but see, that the power and intelligence 
to organize themselves into living structures are not con- 
tained in the materials from which our bodies are formed ; 
but that there is a living force within the body, which 
moulds and organizes these natural substances into mus- 
cles, bones, nerves, and various other tissues. If this is so, 
it follows that this living principle must occupy every part 
of the body, or the part could never have been organized, 
and would not now be alive. The matter, then, of which 
our bodies are composed, is made alive by the indwelling 
spirit, and our material bodies are but the clothing of our 
spirits. It follows as a necessary consequence that the 
spirit is in the form of the body — that it is, in the language 
of St. Paul, " a spiritual body." We see daily manifesta- 
tions of the quality or character of man's spirit in his 
external words and acts; for the body only speaks and 
acts as it is acted upon by the spirit; and the affections 
and thoughts which are manifested in acts and speech are 
spiritual and not material. Who does not see that a man 
is a man from the spirit and not from the material body ? 

With this view of man, it is not difficult to understand 



204 



CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 



what is meant by the resurrection from the dead, and when 
it occurs. It is not difficult to understand the apostolic 
doctrine upon this subject, and the Apostle's beautiful illus- 
* trations. " It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual 
body;" or perhaps, more correctly translated, "A natural 
body is sown; a spiritual body is raised; for there is a 
natural body, and there is a spiritual body," says the 
Apostle. 

But previous to this positive assertion, the Apostle had 
been giving some familiar illustrations in regard to the 
resurrection, and the resurrection body. He says, "But 
some will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what 
body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest 
is not quickened except it die. And that which thou 
sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare 
grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain." How 
clearly and unequivocally does the Apostle affirm, in the 
above passage, that the body which is cast off at death is 
not the body that is to be raised up; "but," says the 
Apostle, " God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and 
to every seed his own body." And, as if afraid some might 
mistake his meaning, and suppose that the natural body is 
to be raised, he continues : " All flesh is not the same flesh ; 
but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of 
beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are 
also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of 
the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the 
moon, and another glory of the stars ; for one star differeth 
from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of 
the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incor- 
ruption ; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is 
sown in weakness, it is raised in power" (1 Corinthians, 
15th chapter). 

All this is evidently intended to show that our material, 
natural bodies are not to be raised, but that they return to 
dust, nevermore to be required or desired by us. If this 



THE KESUKRECTKW. 205 

were not true, there would be no sense in his illustrations. 
The Apostle compares the death of the natural body, and 
the resurrection, to the sowing of grain ; and a very beau- 
tiful illustration it is. We cast the kernel of wheat into 
the earth, and there is within it a living force, or spirit if 
you please; and there springs forth from the seed a new 
plant, capable of bearing seed in its turn. So long as the 
seed is not cast into the earth, its living force remains 
inactive; but when duly moistened and warmed, as the 
little seed is decomposed and disappears, th^re springs 
forth the new blade and leaf. Thus the Apostle would 
have us understand it is with man, when this natural body 
dies and returns to its mother dust; there then comes 
forth from it a spiritual body, as the new plant comes forth 
from the dying seed. The resurrection, then, takes place 
at death. Then the spiritual body or soul is raised from 
the dead body, and the latter is decomposed. 

But let the kernel of grain be decomposed, and return 
to dust without a new plant arising as it dies, and we all 
know that there can be no resurrection; no new plant can 
ever come forth from the dust of which the seed or old 
plant was composed. Now, if the Apostle's illustration is 
correct, or a good one, so it must be with man ; if his body 
dies and returns to dust, without there springing forth, or 
being raised from it, at the very time it dies, the spiritual 
body, there can be no resurrection. 

It will be seen that the Apostle speaks of the resurrec- 
tion in the present tense, as occurring at the time when 
the body is sown, and he does not speak of it as a future 
event. 

We are nowhere in the Bible taught that the material 
body, when it is once put off at death, is ever to be raised 
again. 

In the revelations made by the Lord, through Emanuel 
Swedenborg, to all who are willing to receive Him at His 
Second Coming, we are told that " man rises immediately 
after death, and then appears to himself in the body alto- 



206 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

gether as in the world, with such a face, with such mem- 
bers, arms, hands, feet, belly, loins; yea, also, when he 
sees himself and touches himself, he saith that he is a 
man as in the world." — A. C. 5078. 

Again we are told: "The spirit of man, after the death 
of the body, appears in the spiritual world in the human 
form, altogether as in the natural world ; he enjoys also 
the faculty of seeing, of hearing, of speaking, of feeling, as 
in the world; and he is endowed with every faculty of 
thinking, of willing, and of acting, as in the world. In a 
word, he is a man as to all things and every particular, 
except that he is not encompassed with that gross body 
which he had in the world ; he leaves that when he dies, 
nor does he ever resume it. This continuation of life is 
what is understood by the resurrection. The reason why 
men believe that they are not to rise again before the last 
judgment, when also every visible object of the world is 
(expected) to perish, is because they have not understood 
the Word ; and because sensual men place their life in the 
body, and believe that unless this were to live again, it would 
be all over with the man. The life of man after death is the 
life of his love and the life of his faith ; hence, such as his 
love and such as his faith had been, when he lived in the 
world, such his life remains to eternity. It is the life of 
hell with those who have loved themselves and the world 
above all things ; and the life of heaven with those who 
have loved God above all things, and their neighbor as 
themselves. The latter are they that have faith, but the 
former are they that have not faith. The life of heaven is 
what is called eternal life ; the life of hell is what is called 
spiritual death."— K J. D. 223-7. 

The Lord while on earth declared, " I am the resurrec- 
tion and the Life; he that believeth in me, though he 
were dead, yet shall he live ; and he that liveth and be- 
lieveth in me, shall never die " (John xi. 26). 

When a man is dead in trespasses and in sins, the Lord 
alone can raise him, when he sincerely believes on Him ; 



THE EESUREECTIOK. 201 

and when he does thus raise him, he shall never die: by 
this we cannot understand that he is not to suffer natural 
death, for we know that all men die naturally ; but we are 
to understand that he is not to suffer spiritual death, or to 
become again dead in trespasses and sins. He will there- 
fore live right on, for it is not in regard to natural death 
that the Lord is speaking. Again, the Lord says : " Every 
one that seeth the Son and belie veth on him, shall have 
everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day." 
That is, he will transplant him into eternal life, when the 
last day of natural life comes, and he shall live to eter- 
nity. 

If we would understand the plain teachings of the 
sacred Scriptures upon the subject we are considering, we 
must ever remember, as we read, that when they speak of 
death and the resurrection, they do not always refer to 
natural death, and the resurrection of the material body 
is not even noticed once, nor do they always refer to the 
resurrection of the spirit of man from his worn out body 
at death ; but they often refer to the regeneration of man, 
or to his being raised out of the low, ignorant, sensual, and 
selfish state into which our race has sunken at this day, 
up into a state of heavenly light and life by the Lord, 
when man looks to Him, and hears and tries to keep His 
sayings. 

Therefore the Apostle says : " Awake, thou that sleepest, 
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" 
(Eph. v. 14). No one will for a moment suppose that the 
Apostle was addressing dead bodies, or the souls of dead 
men. 

In reading the writings of St. Paul, it is all-important 
that we notice that the Apostle does not always clearly 
separate, so that we readily perceive it, in his manner of 
speaking, the idea of resurrection from that of regen- 
eration ; and it is often impossible to apply what he says 
of the resurrection to any but the regenerate. 

The Apostle distinctly teaches us, in this chapter, that 



208 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

even if the material body should be raised, it could not 
enter heaven, for he says : " Now this I say, brethren, that 
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; 
neither doth corruption inherit incorruption " (1 Cor. xv. 
50). 

If we turn to the fifth chapter of 2 Corinthians, after 
having declared that our light affliction, which is but for a 
moment, worketh for ns a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory, the Apostle goes on to show that this is to 
be entered upon as soon as our earthly body dies. He 
says: "For we know that if our earthly tabernacle were 
dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens." Consequently, by 
this house in the heavens, as opposed to the tabernacle of 
the natural body, he means the spiritual body, which, in 
his first epistle, he declares man already possesses, and in 
which the soul of the faithful will dwell after death to 
eternity. "For this," he adds, "we groan, earnestly de- 
siring to be clothed upon with our house which is from 
heaven: if so be that, being clothed, we shall not be found 
naked." 

How plain is the Apostle's teaching, that the true Chris- 
tian, while working out his salvation with fear and trem- 
bling, as the work of regeneration progresses, is daily 
being clothed upon by his house which is from heaven. 
The beautiful garments of truth which he is receiving into 
his understanding from G-od's Word, and which convey to 
his heart the Divine love, and thus nourish his spirit, in 
accordance with the Lord's words when he declares that 
man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word 
which proceeds out of the mouth of God shall he live, are 
building up the house not made with hands; so that, 
when he is stripped of the natural body, his spiritual body 
shall not appear destitute of heavenly truths and graces, 
and present the form and image of all our natural corrup- 
tions, of which nakedness and shame are constantly predi- 
cated in the language of inspiration. 



THE KESUEKECTION". 209 

The Apostle continues : " For we that are in this taber- 
nacle do groan, being burdened : not for that we would 
be unclothed;" that is, not anxious to escape from the 
cares and troubles of this world by death, until clothed 
upon by being invested by a truly heavenly as well as a 
spiritual form. And the reason which he gives for pre- 
ferring to be clothed upon, to dying, is "that mortality 
might be swallowed up of life;" or that he might bring 
his natural appetites and passions under subjection to 
the spiritual or new man, and thus be prepared for 
such glorious investments as the faithful have a right 
to expect immediately after death. Accordingly he pre- 
sently adds: "Therefore we are always confident, know- 
ing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent 
from the Lord ; we are confident, I say, willing rather to be 
absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." 

How clear it is that the Apostle expected when death 
should dissolve his earthly tabernacle or body, that he 
would immediately stand forth in the presence of the 
Lord, not naked, but clothed with a beautiful angelic 
form ; a house not made with hands, but formed from the 
eternal and heavenly principles of goodness and truth 
from the Lord. 

What a sublime and practical doctrine is this, dear 
reader ! That we are daily, by every thought we harbor, 
by every word we speak, and every act we do, perfecting 
and building up an angelic form within us, and obscuring 
our spiritual nakedness, by being clothed by beautiful 
garments, or sublime truths from God's holy Word : or we 
are, on the other hand, becoming more and more naked, 
by neglecting and rejecting the truths of revelation, and 
more and more deformed by harboring evil thoughts, 
speaking false and harmful words, and doing evil acts. 

The Apostle then teaches a practical doctrine in regard 
to the resurrection — that death in this world is resurrec- 
tion into the next, or spiritual world — and if we examine 
we shall find that all Scripture, as well as reason, are in 
harmonv with this doctrine. 



210 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

The Lord, from the cross, declared to the penitent 
thief: "Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with 
me in paradise " (Luke xxiii. 43). 

In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus we read: 
" The beggar died, and was carried by angels into Abra- 
ham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried, 
and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and 
seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And 
he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, 
and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger 
in water and cool my tongue ; for I am tormented in this 
flame." 

In this passage the Lord not only teaches that men 
arise immediately after death, and begin to receive their 
reward, according to the deeds done in the body, but he 
also teaches that a man's spiritual body has a bosom, 
tongue, finger, and consequently all the other organs 
which the natural body has here. 

At the Lord's transfiguration we read: "And behold 
there talked with him two men, which were Moses and 
Elias, who appeared in glory, and spoke of His decease 
which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." Moses and 
Elias, although their natural bodies were long dead, were 
here seen as men, of course possessing spiritual bodies, by 
Peter and those who were with him (Luke ix. 30, 31). 

The Lord Jesus, in His reply to the Sadducees, teaches 
most explicitly that the time-honored Prophets are not 
dead, but are living; of course in the spiritual world, 
raised up from their dead earthly bodies. He says: "But 
as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read 
that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the 
God of Abraham, and the God of" Isaac, and the God of 
Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the 
living " (Matt, xxii. 31, 32). 

Now if it is true that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac 
and Jacob, as He declares He is, and if He is not the God 
of the dead, it follows necessarily that they are living. 



THE RESURRECTION. 211 

How exactly does this accord with the teachings of 
Solomon, when he says: "If the silver cord be loosed, or 
the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at 
the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, then 
shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit 
shall return unto God who gave it" (Eccl. xii. 6, 7). 
Vie have not the slightest intimation that they are ever 
to be reunited, but we are assured that the dead body is to 
be returned to the dust as it was, and we see that it does 
steadily crumble back to its native elements. 

The Apostle John, when caught up to heaven, 
" Beheld a great multitude which no man could number, 
of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, 
standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed 
in white robes," uniting with the angels in their everlast- 
ing song of praise. The Apostle asked who these persons 
were ? The angel informed him, that they were " those 
who came up out of great tribulation, and had washed 
their robes and made them w r hite in the blood of the 
Lamb." " Therefore," the angel adds, " they are before 
the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in the 
temple " (Eev. iv. 1, 6). 

No one questions but that those were men, and in the 
human form, having bodies which could be seen by 
spiritual eyes. Can any one suppose that this vast multi- 
tude, enjoying angelic bliss as exquisite as can be con- 
ceived, are again to resume their bodies of clay ? how 
absurd and opposed to Scripture is such an idea ! 

It may be well to notice a few of the passages which 
are supposed to teach a resurrection of the material body. 
And first the celebrated one from the nineteenth chapter 
of Job, 25, 26, 27. " I know that my Redeemer liveth, 
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; 
and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in 
my fl esh shall I see God : whom I shall see for myself, and 
mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins 
le consumed within me." Job had been sorely afflicted, 



212 



CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 



with boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown; he 
was wasted away to mere skin and bone as it were He 
says of his condition: "My bone cleaveth to my skin as 
to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth " 
And yet, notwithstanding all this, in his confidence in the 
Lord, he ^expresses his conviction, in the passage we have 
read, that he shall not die, but shall see God interposing 
in his behalf, while he is still living in the flesh. 

By looking at the passage which has been read from 
Job which is supposed by some to teach the resurrection 
ot the body, we will find that the words, worms and body 
are m italics; which denote that they were not in the 
original, but were added by the translator. 

If we turn to the last chapter of Job we read: "Then 
Job answered the Lord and said : I know that thou canst 
do everything, and that no thought can be withholden 
from thee. * * * I have heard of thee by the hearing 
oi the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee/' And we read 
still further that the " Lord turned the captivity of Job 
when he prayed for his friends; also, the Lord gave Job 
twice as much as he had before." "After this lived Job a 
hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his son's 
sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and 
full of days." What a remarkable accomplishment of all 
that he expected of the Lord, as expressed when he 
exclaimed, "I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall 
behold, and not another." 

In the fifth chapter of John the Lord says, "Verily 
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and be- 
heveth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and 
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from 
death unto life." In this verse the Lord is evidently 
speaking to and of living men ; therefore He cannot mean 
that they have passed from natural death unto a resurrec- 
tion of the body, or even of the spirit. He . manifestly is 
speaking of the spiritual regeneration of man, or of his 
passing from a low and dead state, spiritually, to a living 



THE RESURRECTION". 213 

state, by hearing and believing on the Lord and keeping 
his sayings. . 

If we would correctly understand what follows, in the 
next few verses, it will be well to bear in mind that we 
have in the verse just read positive evidence that the Lord 
is not speaking of natural death and life. In the next 
verse we read : 

" Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and 
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of 
God; and they that hear shall live." 

Now if we understand that he refers to those who are 
dead in trespasses and sins, it is all very plain ; for wicked 
men, while they live in this world, may hear the voice of 
the Son of God and live, for they are yet enjoying a state 
of probation. 

But if he referred to those who are dead physically, and 
to the resurrection of their dead bodies, we may certainly 
inquire what has become of their resurrected bodies ; did 
they again die ? and, if so, is there any hope of their again 
being raised ? How manifest it is that the Lord is not 
speaking of those who died naturally, or of the resurrec- 
tion of the natural body ; but he is speaking of the dead 
who are yet living in this world, and the life to which he 
refers is not physical life. Let us read on > 

"For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He 
given to the Son to have life in Himself." Surely he does 
not here refer to physical life. "And hath given Him 
authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son 
of man. Marvel not at this ; for the hour is coming in 
the which all that are in their graves shall hear His voice, 
and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto the 
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto 
the resurrection of damnation." 

We have found that the Lord in these verses is not 
speaking of natural death and life.; and we shall find that 
it is equally clear that he does not refer to natural graves, 
and the resurrection of the natural body, in the passage 



214 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

just read. He evidently refers to a judgment about to be 
performed, for He declares that authority is given Him to 
execute judgment, and He does not say that the hour will 
come at the end of hundreds or thousands of years, but 
that the hour is coming — that is, it is near at hand — 
when this judgment is to be executed. If we turn over to 
the 12th chapter of John, 31st verse, he assures us that 
that judgment was then being performed, for he declares: 

"Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the 
prince of this world be cast out." Here then, beyond th<b 
possibility of a doubt, the hour of which he spoke as 
coming, had arrived, when all that were in the graves 
should hear his voice and come forth ; they that had done 
good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that had 
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. 

For judgment came He into the world. All that were 
in the graves heard his voice ; the good came forth to the 
resurrection of life, the evil unto the resurrection of 
damnation. Then was the prince of this world cast out. 

Were the natural bodies of those who were dead raised 
at that judgment ? or were their natural graves disturbed 
at all? We know that they were not; for most of us 
have doubtless seen, as Egyptian mummies, the dead 
bodies of those who died long before that judgment, 
still invested in their winding sheets. And another cir- 
cumstance worthy of our most serious attention attended 
that judgment and resurrection. The time of that judg- 
ment was unknown to and unnoticed by the great mass of 
mankind ; in fact, by all except the few to whom the Lord 
was speaking. Men, we read, are to be judged according 
to the deeds done here in the body. It follows, of course, 
that this can only be done after the completion of man's 
natural life, and therefore the judgment must take place 
in the spiritual world; so that it was not strange that 
mankind generally knew nothing about that judgment. 

The case of Elijah is supposed to form some proof of 
the possibility of the resurrection of the material body, 









THE RESURRECTION". 215 

and also that it will be raised. In reply we cannot do 
better than to make a quotation from that excellent work, 
"An Appeal to the Reflecting of all Denomination s," by 
Rev. Samuel Noble. He says: "Quite evident, then, it is, 
that whatever became of Elijah's material body, it was not 
carried up into heaven ; for quite evident it is, though the 
circumstance is generally overlooked, that the translation 
of Elijah was not seen by Elisha with the eyes of his body, 
but with those of his spirit. * * * Elisha had asked 
that a double portion of his master's spirit might be upon 
him ; to which Elijah answered : ' Thou hast asked a hard 
thing ; nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from 
thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be 
so' (2 Kings ii. 10). Elijah knew that the miraculous 
event about to take place would be imperceptible to any 
man in his natural state, and could not be beheld by 
Elisha, unless by special divine favor the sight of his spirit 
were opened to behold it ; the granting then to Elisha of 
the favor of the opening of his spiritual sight was to be 
to him the earnest of the granting to him likewise of the 
other favor which he had requested. This therefore was 
done and distinctly recorded. 'And it came to pass, as 
they still went on, and talked, that behold there appeared 
a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and parted them both 
asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.' 
Certain it is that this chariot and horses of fire did not 
belong to the natural world, but that they were a spiritual 
appearance, and consequently not visible to the sight of 
man, unless he were put into a spiritual state proper for 
beholding it. That Elisha, then, was put into such a state 
is intimated by its being immediately added: 'And Elisha 
saw it,' — that is, saw the whole transaction, both the fiery 
chariot and horses and the transit of Elijah; 'and he 
cried, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the 
horseman thereof.' " 

Now if Elijah's natural body was to have been trans- 
lated, there would have been no difficulty in Elisha's see- 



21© CALL TO THE ^EW- JERUSALEM. 

ing it with his natural eyes. While in spiritual vision 
Elisha would know little of the things of the natural 
world, and Elijah's dead body might have been carried ofi! 
by a natural whirlwind, or Elisha may have wandered 
from it, and therefore have seen it no more; or again, 
seeing its real occupant depart, he may have regarded it as 
worthy of no further consideration or remark. 

If the reader would like to see every passage in the 
sacred Scriptures which is supposed to teach the doctrine 
of the resurrection of the natural body carefully examined, 
both as to translation and its true meaning, he will do well 
to obtain and read " Noble's Appeal." 

The resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 
occurred on the third day. "The crucifixion occurred 
on Friday afternoon, and early on the following Sunday 
morning a company of angels was seen around the tomb, 
and they gave the information that He had already risen,- 
and was with them in their world. He soon appeared, too, 
to the women and to the other disciples. He became 
visible to them in His glorified body by an opening of their 
spiritual eyes, as we plainly read in Luke xxiv. 31, where 
it is said that, as He brake bread in their company, ' their 
eyes were opened, and they knew Him.' 

"Now, if our Lord's resurrection is a type of ours (and 
from the Scripture we know that it is), then our resurrect 
tion occurs on or about the third day after the decease of 
the mortal part, as soon as the spirit has had time to be 
entirely withdrawn from its former body, and the mind 
has recovered its wonted action. 

"So the Prophet Hosea, in the sixth chapter, speaking 
of this subject in a passage that has been generally over^ 
looked, says distinctly — first referring to the dissolution 
which fhe Lord works upon our mortal frames through 
disease^ causing death— _ v : -j 

_~ — v f , ,. <* He hath torn, [but] He -will heal us ; 

. , He hath smitten, [but] He will bind us up; 



THE RESURRECTION. 217 

After two days will He revive us ; 
In the third day He will raise us up ; 
And ice shall live in His sight.' 

"What can be plainer than this? Though our mortal 
frames are dissolved, and we are dead in the sight of men, 
yet ' after two days He will revive us : on the third day He 
will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight,' and in the 
sight of angels, agreeably to our Lord's words already 
quoted, that 'to Him all are living '."'- — Light on Last 
Things. 

Death, we see, is not an instantaneous process, accord- 
ing to the Divine Word. So Swedenborg informs us that 
the separation between the soul and body is generally 
completed, and the resurrection occurs, about the third 
day after apparent death ; but with more or less variety as 
to time in different cases, owing to the character of the 
disease, or the cause of death. 

The Lord provides that the highest, or celestial angels, 
shall be present with every one, be he good or bad, when 
he dies, so that his first reception in the next life is most 
kind. And, says Swedenborg, " The celestial angels who 
thus minister to the resuscitated person, do not leave him, 
because they love every one; but if the spirit is such in 
quality that he cannot longer continue in the company of 
celestial angels, he feels a desire to depart from them. 
When he does, angels from the Lord's spiritual kingdom 
come to him." 

So that the Lord and His angels never forsake the 
spirit; but if he is not satisfied with any angelic society, 
where love to the Lord and neighbor, and of obedience to 
the Divine commandments prevails, he voluntarily seeks 
his like in hell, or among those where selfishness, in its 
various forms, is predominant. But the Lord does not 
forsake him even there; for he permits suffering and pun- 
ishments, restrained by angelic influences within reason- 
able bounds, to follow his thinking and doing evil, in his 
10 



£18 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

new abode, to prevent him from sinking to lower depths 
of evil, and consequent suffering. 

The reader will find Swedenborg's "Heaven and Hell" 
an exceedingly interesting and profitable book to read, if 
he has any care for his eternal welfare ; and to that work 
we must refer him. 

" There is no death ! what seems so is transition, 
This life of mortal breath, 
Is but a suburb of the life elysian, 
Whose portal we call death." — Longfellow. 

XXX. 

State of Infants in the Other Life. 

WHAT parent is there who has lost a little child by 
death that has felt no interest in the fate of their 
darling after it had left the tender care of its earthly 
parents ? The writer well remembers, although about 
thirty years have passed since the sad event, watching 
carefully with his wife the sick and, as the event proved, 
dying couch of our then only child, a little boy about one 
year old — a beautiful and promising child as we thought. 
With what feelings of sadness and sorrow we closed his 
eyes in death! and then, then! the uncertainty, the 
vail that was between us and the object of our affection! 
Into whose keeping had he gone ? how was he cared for? 
why should the Lord place us in such darkness ? were but 
questions which had arisen w 7 ith thousands thus circum- 
stanced before us. With many tears we laid the mortal 
remains of our dear one in an earthly grave — dust to dust. 
One night ray wife awoke from sleep in the greatest 
excitement, sprang up in bed, and declared that she saw 
our little boy ; that he was sitting upon her lap, when a 
beautiful lady appeared, one whom she recognized and 
called by name, a playmate and companion of her younger 
days, but who had died several years before this event. 
She, with the most pleasant and kind expression, beckoned 



STATE OF INFANTS IN THE OTHER LIFE. 219 

our darling boy to come to her; he raised his little arms 
and with expressions of joy passed to her, and was clasped 
in her loving arms. At this instant the excitement was 
too great, the curtain dropped, and my wife awoke as 
above. It was all so real, so life-like, that we felt that it 
was more than a dream and were comforted. How much 
this event had to do in preparing us for the full reception 
of the disclosures in regard to the spiritual world, and the 
doctrines of the New Jerusalem revealed by the Lord in 
the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, the reader will 
perhaps be able to judge after reading the few extracts 
which we propose to make from the above writings. 

"As soon as infants are raised from the dead," says 
Swedenborg, "which takes place immediately after their 
decease, they are carried up into heaven, and delivered to 
the care of angels of the female sex, who in the life of the 
body loved infants tenderly, and at the same time loved 
God. Since those angels when in the world loved all 
infants from a sort of maternal tenderness, they receive 
them as their own ; and the infants also, from an affection 
implanted in them, love them as their own mothers." — 
Heaven and Hell, No. 332. 

Up into heaven, means not up in material space, but in 
spiritual state. The angels attendant on little children, 
we read, do always behold the face of our Father in the 
heavens. 

" Some believe," says Swedenborg, "that only the infants 
who are born within the church are admitted into heaven, 
but not those who are born out of the church ; and they 
assign as a reason that children born in the church are 
baptized, and are initiated by baptism into the faith of the 
church. But such persons are not aware that heaven is 
not imparted to any one by baptism, nor by faith either ; 
for baptism is only instituted as a sign and memorial that 
man is to be regenerated, and that it is possible for those 
to be regenerated who are born in the church, since the 
church possesses the Word, in which are contained the 



220 CALL TO THE tfEW JERUSALEM. 

divine truths by means of which regeneration is effected, 
and in the church the Lord is known, by whom it is 
accomplished. Be it known, therefore, that every infant 
or little child, let him be born where he may, whether in 
the church or out of it, whether of pious or wicked parents, 
is received when he dies by the Lord, and is educated in 
heaven, where he is instructed according to Divine Order, 
and is imbued with affections of good, and, through them, 
with knowledges of truth ; and that afterwards, as he is 
perfected in intelligence and wisdom, he is introduced 
into heaven and becomes an angel. Every person who 
thinks from reason may be aware, that no one is born for 
hell, but all for heaven, and that if man goes to hell the 
blame is his own, but no blame can attach to infants or 
little children. 

" When infants die, they are still infants in the other 
life. They possess the same infantile mind, the same in- 
nocence in ignorance, and the same tenderness in all 
things. They are only in rudimental states introductory 
to the angelic; for infants are not angels, but become 
angels. Every one, on his decease, is in a similar state 
of life to that in which he was in the world ; an infant in 
the state of infancy, a boy, in the state of boyhood, and a 
youth, a man, or an old man, in the state of youth, man- 
hood, or old age. But the state of every one is afterwards 
changed." — Heaven and Hell, n. 329 and 330. 

"Many persons may imagine that infants are for ever 
infants among the angels in heaven. They who do not 
know what constitutes an angel, may be confirmed in this 
opinion from the images which are sometimes seen in 
churches, where angels are exhibited as infants. But the 
case is altogether otherwise. Intelligence and wisdom 
coustitnte an angel; and so long as infants are without 
intelligence and wisdom, although they are associated with 
angels, they are not yet angels. "When they become intel- 
ligent and wise, then they first become angels, I have, 
indeed, been surprised to see that they then no longer 



HEATHEN" AND GENTILES IN ANOTHER LIFE. 221 

appear as infants, but as adults, for they are then no 
longer of an infantile disposition, but of a more mature 
angelic character. Intelligence. and wisdom produce this 
maturity. Infants appear more adult in proportion as 
they are perfected in intelligence and wisdom, and thus as 
youths and young men, because intelligence and wisdom 
constitute essential spiritual nourishment. That which 
nourishes their minds nourishes also their bodies, from 
correspondence, because the form of the body is nothing 
but an external form of the interiors. It is to be observed, 
that infants who grow up in heaven do not advance 
beyond early youth, but remain in that state to eternity. 
That I might be assured of this, it has been granted me to 
converse with some who were educated as infants in 
heaven, and who had grown up there. I have also spoken 
with some when they were infants, and afterwards with 
the same when they had become young men, and heard 
from them the progression of their life from the one age 
to the other."— Ibid,, n. 340. 

As the child, we are told, grows up to, but does not 
advance beyond early youth, so, Swedenborg informs us, 
that those who die in old age, return gradually in appear- 
ance to the state of early youth, and remain thus forever. 

XXXI. 

On the State and Condition of the Heathen and 
Gentiles in another Life. 

"TTTE cannot do better than to make a few short ex- 
VV tracts from a communication recently published 
from a Hindoo convert to Christianity, Dadoba Pandu- 
rung, of Bombay, entitled "A Hindoo Gentleman's Ee- 
flections respecting the works of Swedenborg, and the 
Doctrines of the New Jerusalem." He says : 

"What parents, whether Christians or Heathen, I ask, 
would not feel a most heartfelt consolation in the fate after 
•death, as it is described by Swedenborg, of the little 



228 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

children, and of the millions of heathens who are dailj 
and hourly ushering into the next world, but who, from 
their helpless and unavoidable condition, are precluded 
from the benefits accessible to grown-up Christians of 
mature age and consideration ? 

"Christianity, as is now taught and preached to the 
world, appears to me to be almost silent on the important 
question touching the fate and future destiny of that vast 
and incalculable number of human beings who have died, 
and who at this day are daily dying in total ignorance of 
its voice ; not to speak of that inconceivable number of 
human beings who had occupied and left this our earth 
during a period of thousands of years previous to the 
advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

" But I am here thinking, and thinking quite naturally, 
of those millions of millions of heathens who have died 
and are daily dying for want of the requisite good in their 
case, viz. : the blessings of Christianity. I am not refer- 
ring to those who have led wicked and sinful lives — to 
the avaricious and worldly men who have never turned to 
their God with a penitent heart, for the fate of such per- 
sons is the same, whether they be in Christendom or in 
heathendom ; but I refer particularly to such Gentiles as 
have led a virtuous life, of which it may be predicated that 
it cannot be otherwise than pleasing in the sight of the 
Lord, nor can it ever be affirmed that heathendom is alto- 
gether devoid of pious, good, and virtuous men and women, 
for such an assertion, in my opinion, amounts to a gross 
blasphemy. In reference to such queries as these, in order 
to remove our over anxiety on the subject; we are no doubt 
sometimes shown such small passages in the Old and New 
Testament as Deut. x. 17; 2 Chron. xix. 1; Prov. xxiv. 
12; Matt, xvi. 27; Bom. x. 6 to 14; Gal. vi. 7, 8; 1 Peter 
i. 17, in the assurance that they will satisfy our curiosity. 
But these are shown with such trembling hands and flat- 
tering words, as to leave the general impression on the 
minds of the heathens, that eternal damnation is their it*- 



HEATHEN AND GENTILES IN ANOTHER LIFE. 223 

evitable lot In this state of universal diffidence and 
despondency, which affect the mind if not the heart of 
many a Christian minister in a greater or less degree, 
according to his natural temperament, when expressing 
his opinion on this point, the Church of the New Jerusa- 
lem comes forward with a degree of boldness and assurance 
which the Gentiles will surely hail with welcome, to pro- 
mulgate its true doctrine on this most momentous ques- 
tion. This church explicitly teaches us that the heathens 
and Gentiles who have led a virtuous life will receive the 
truth in the world of spirits, have as much right to enter 
into the gates of heaven as the Christians themselves. 
In the case of the heathens there is a course of Christian 
knowledge and instructions which they have to go through, 
and which they had not had an opportunity to obtain 
while on the earth : but which the universal benevolence 
of the Heavenly Father of all mankind has provided for 
them in the intermediate state, under the loving care of 
ministering angels. These appear to me to be not only 
noble but correct sentiments, which must surely be con- 
fessed by those Christians who have not allowed their 
minds to be contracted by the preaching of bigoted and 
narrow-minded ministers. 

"Then Swedenborg goes on reasoning very cogently, 
showing in the relation of his vision of heaven that good 
and pious heathens have as easy an entrance into heaven 
as the good and pious Christians themselves ; of course, 
after their being perfected in the knowledge of the Lord, 
and of His unalterable mercy in having so far condescended 
as to have assumed the form of a man on our earth, to 
show to the whole human race the way of salvation — a 
fact on which most of the Christians have but a vague 
and imperfect notion. In one place in the same chapter, 
Swedenborg says, and says not without sufficient reason, 
that the Gentiles of the present day enter heaven more 
easily than Christians themselves, in accordance with these 
wor£s of the Lord in Luke : * Then shall they come from 



224 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

the east and from the west, and from the north and from 
the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. 
And, hehold, there are last— who shall he first, and there 
are first who shall be last* (chapter xiii. 29-30). In these 
words, and in fact in the whole description of his * Heaven 
and Hell/ Swedenborg appears to me to have actually taken 
away the very sting out of the dread of eternal punish- 
ment, which the preaching and writing of a great body of 
the Christian clergy appears to inflict on the whole of 
heathendom, and on by far the greatest portion of Christen- 
dom ; for according to their teaching no one shall be saved 
except those few who conform themselves to the dogmas 
of their respective churches. Strictly speaking, according 
to the spirit of Protestantism, the whole of the Roman 
Catholic world, and, according to the Church of Rome, 
the whole of the Protestant world, as heretics, and to both, 
the whole of the still wider world abroad, as infidels and 
heathens, are indiscriminately destined to everlasting per- 
dition ; with this exception, that the Romish Church offers 
a kind of respite in the shape of their purgatory, in which 
their opponents might take breath, and repent of their 
folly, while Protestantism peremptorily demands of you an 
unconditional surrender. In this dilemma the Church of 
the New Jerusalem appears to me as coming forward for 
our rescue, showing us the true state of things ; by offering 
for our consideration both sides of the question, very fairly 
and reasonably, that we may with alacrity enter on the 
long but narrow path upwards, which ultimately leads us 
to heaven, there to enjoy all the degrees of a blessed and 
happy life, and also to shun the short but broad path 
downwards, which leads us — if our nature be so incorrigi- 
bly perverse as not to be reclaimable even in the spiritual 
world— to tfelL* 

\ "In his 'Arcana Coelestia' the illustrious author has 
devoted full seventeen numbers (from No. 2589 to No. 
#6Q£) to this important question— * Concerning\the : state 
and condition in another life of the nations arid people 



HEATHE^ AXD GENTILES IN ANOTHER LIFE. 225 

who are born out of the pale of the church.' I cannot 
here make full extracts of these ; but the following short 
ones, in addition to what I have already given, will amply 
show the true position which the heathens occupy under 
the teaching of the New Jerusalem. Swedenborg says : 

"'I have had abundant information that the G-entiles 
who have led a moral life, and have been obedient, and 
have lived in mutual charity, and have received somewhat 
like conscience agreeable to their religion, are accepted in 
another life, and are there instructed by the angels with 
the utmost care in the goodness and truth of faith.— 
Arcana Ccelestia, No. 2590. ***** 

For with respect to Christians and Gentiles in another 
life, the case is this : Christians, who have acknowledged 
the truths of faith, and at the same time have led a life of 
good, are accepted in preference to the Gentiles" {quite 
true),'' 1 but such Christians at this day are few in number" 
(very true indeed)-, "whereas the Gentiles who have lived 
in obedience and mutual charity are accepted in preference 
to the Christians who have not led a good life ' — (undoubt- 
edly). 

" Thus Swedenborg goes on to say many things concern- 
ing the heathens and Gentiles whom he conversed with in 
the spiritual world, as is amply shown in his grand work, 
' The Arcana Ccelestia,' in his 'True Christian Eeligion,' 
and in his ' Heaven and Hell.' They claim the perusal 
and consideration of the Christians and heathens alike. 
It is not to be understood from my above and other 
observations in this address, which, I comprehend, may be 
considered as expressive of my excessive and undue sym- 
pathy for the fate of the heathens, that I entertain any 
lurking wish to exonerate my brethren, the heathens, from 
the great and awful responsibility which attaches to their 
position as sinners and answerable beings before the tribu- 
nal of God, or rather liability to suffer the consequences of 
their sins and delinquency, and to make light of the bur- 
den under which they labor in common with Christians. 



226 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

It is far from my avowed purpose to endeavor to screen 
them, under the cloak of their ignorance of Christianity, 
from the punishment which they duly deserve in the other 
world ; or, on the other hand, in any way to encourage 
them to seek for refuge under the comfortable asylum of 
that ignorance, in defiance of the loud calls which Chris- 
tianity makes to them from outside for a thorough investi- 
gation of its claim, as it is said to be the only religion 
revealed by God to man for his salvation, and if satisfied 
with the validity of its claim, to seek eagerly for that sal- 
vation which it holds out to sinners. But my chief object 
in thus evincing sympathy, if it be so called, in the cause 
of the heathens in the present address, is to seek to excul- 
pate such of them, and them only, whose ears its call has 
not reached, nor eyes its light seen, from the hard and 
awful denunciation with which they are menaced by a 
large and inconsiderate portion of the Christian preachers. 
But it is to be clearly understood that to those who have 
no such excuse to urge in their defence it is not in my 
contemplation to extend any sympathy at all. They shall 
have their own cause to answer and plead before the tribu- 
nal of God, if they stand convicted of this most culpable 
negligence in a case which concerns the vital interest of 
their own souls in the world to come." 

We will close this section with a few extracts from 
Swedenborg's own writings : 

" The church of the Lord exists with all in the universe 
who live in good according to their religious principles, 
and acknowledge the Divine Being; and they are accepted 
of the Lord and go to heaven." 

"It is a common opinion, that those persons who are 
born out of the limits of the church, and are called Gen- 
tiles or heathens, cannot be saved, because they do not 
possess the Word, and thus are ignorant of the Lord ; and 
it is certain that, without the Lord, there can be no salva- 
tion. Nevertheless, that salvation is open to these also, is 
a truth which might be inferred from these considerations 






HEATHEN AND GENTILES IN ANOTHER LIFE. 227 

alone : That the Lord's mercy is universal, or extends to 
every individual; that they are born men, as really as 
those who are born within the church, who are but few in 
comparison ; and that their being ignorant of the Lord is 
no fault of their own. Every person who thinks from a 
rational faculty, in any degree enlightened, may see clearly 
that no man can be born designedly for hell; since the 
Lord is Love itself, and His Love consists in desiring the 
salvation of all. On this account He provides that all 
should be attached to some religion, and should possess, 
by means of it, the acknowledgment of a Divine Being 
and interior life, since to live according to a religious 
belief is to live interiorly ; for a man then has respect to 
a Divine Being, and so far as he does this he does not look 
to the world, but removes himself from the world, conse- 
quently from the life of the world, which is exterior life." 

"That Gentiles are saved as well as Christians, may be 
known to those who are aware what it is that constitutes 
heaven with man ; for heaven is in man, and those who 
have heaven in themselves go to heaven after death. It 
is heaven in man to acknowledge a Divine Being, and to 
be led by him. The first and chief essential of all religion 
consists in acknowledging a Divine Being ; and a religion 
which does not include this acknowledgment, is no re- 
ligion at all. * * * It is known that the Gentiles live 
a moral life as well as Christians, and many of them better. 
Men live a moral life, either from regard to the Divine 
Being, or from a regard to the opinion of the people in 
the world; and when a moral life is practiced out of 
regard to the Divine Being, it is a spiritual life. Both 
appear alike in their outward form, but in their inward 
they are completely different ; the one saves a man, but 
the other does not; for he that lives a moral life out of 
regard to the Divine Being, is led by Him; but he who 
does so from regard to the opinion of people in the world 
is led by himself." 

"The Gentile3 cannot profane the holy things of the 



228 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

church like Christians, because they are not acquainted 
with them." "They are afraid of Christians on account 
of their lives." " Those who hate lived well, according to 
their religious principles, are instructed by the angels, and 
easily receive the truths of faith, and acknowledge the 
Lord," "for they have not formed for themselves any 
principles of falsity opposed to the truths of faith, which 
would need to be first removed." 

"Although Gentiles are not in genuine truths during 
their life in the world, they receive them in the other life 
from a principle of love. The Africans are most beloved in 
heaven of all the Gentiles, for they receive the goods and 
truths of heaven more easily than others. They particularly 
desire to be Called obedient, but not faithful; Christians, 
they say, may be called faithful, because they possess the 
doctrine of faith ; but they themselves not so, unless they 
receive that doctrine, or, as they express themselves, are 
able to receive it."— Heaven and Hell. 

"Many in the other world, who come from parts of the 
globe outside of Christendom, and who have been wor- 
shippers of idols, have the utmost horror of hatred and 
adultery, and are afraid of Christians who indulge in these 
vices, and make no scruple of torturing their fellow 
creatures. * * * Gentiles who have lived morally, 
being in mutual charity and innocence, are regenerated in 
the other life. During their abode in the world, the Lord 
had been present with them in charity and innocence, 
both of which proceed wholly from Him. He had also 
endowed them with conscience of what is right and good 
according to their religious principles, and into that had 
insinuated innocence and charity; and when these are 
present in the conscience, persons easily become principled 
in the truth and faith grounded in good." — Arcana 
Coslestia. 



THE CHUKCH OF THE FUTURE. 229 



XXXII. 

The New Jerusalem.— The Church of the Future. 
—The Crown of all Churches. 

THERE is but one Saviour — our Lord Jesus Christ — 
and there is bat one road to heaven, and that is a 
spiritual road which every man must perseveringly and 
faithfully travel for himself, or he will never reach the 
Heavenly City. We enter that road when we, in acknowl- 
edgment of a Divine Being, sincerely repent of our evil 
deeds, and we walk in it when we earnestly strive to live 
a life according to the commandments, shunning evils as 
sins against God, and act honestly and justly towards our 
fellow-men, and endeavor to do good to all as opportunity 
offers. The Lord Jesus Christ, or God manifest in the 
flesh, the one God in one Divine Person, is the corner- 
stone of the New Jerusalem. This is a central doctrine 
around which all true doctrines revolve like the planets 
around the sun. Let us cease following men and look to 
the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation and to the sacred 
Scriptures for light to guide us, and especially to the 
latter as unfolded by the Lord in the writings of Emanuel 
Swedenborg for this incoming new age, and the truth will 
make us free from the shackles of sectarianism, and from 
sect and man worship. The exaltation of faith and the 
doctrines which a man believes, and the sect to which he 
belongs, above the life w r hich he lives, together with the 
claiming and usurpation of spiritual dominion in matters 
of faith by man over his fellow-man, and denying to men 
religious freedom, has brought the first Christian Church 
to its end and split it into its innumerable fragments. In 
the beautiful allegory of creation in the first chapters of 
Genesis, where, in the spiritual s?nse, the regeneration 
and fall of man are described, Cain denotes faith and 
Abel charity ; and when Cain destroyed Abel he became 
a fugitive and a vagabond, and thus faith ever becomes 



230 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

when it destroys charity ; it separates, puffs up, alienates 
and arrays man against his fellow-man, and sect against 
sect. The seer for the New Jerusalem informs us that 
if charity had retained its proper place in the Christian 
Church differences of belief would not have separated 
and divided the church, but men would have been allowed 
in freedom to hold their own views so long as they lived 
good Jives. Every man should look to the Lord, and read 
and judge for himself; for it is only that which he in 
freedom intelligently perceives to be true, and carries out 
in his daily life, which tends to build up a heavenly life 
within him. A blind assent to doctrines and creeds, or 
a blind following of teachers, amounts to little. In this 
new dispensation men are to receive truth because they 
perceive it to be true, and not on the authority of a man, 
or men, or of a church even. Teachers must prove their 
doctrines true and good, or prepare to see them rejected. 

The Christian should recognize but one leader — the 
Lord ; but he should not fail to recognize a brother in 
every man who believes in a Supreme Being and is striv- 
ing to lead a good life ; for the Lord is no respecter of 
persons, and the Chris dan's charity should manifestly 
extend to all of his Father's children. 

The prevalence of a 'spirit of genuine charity — a charity 
which thinketh no evil, but strives to excuse rather than 
accuse, and can tolerate in a fellow-man an honest differ- 
ence of opinion, without offence, is to be one of the 
characteristics of the church of the future, or of the New 
Jerusalem, and another is Freedom ; for spiritual liberty, 
Swedenborg has shown us, has been restored to man. 
" How has such liberty been restored to man ? " the reader 
may inquire. 

If we read carefully the fifth and twelfth chapters of 
John, we shall find that the Lord, when on earth, ex- 
ecuted a general judgment, for He declared : " Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, 
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 231 

they that hear shall live." "Now is the judgment of this 
world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out." 
This judgment of course took place in the spiritual world, 
where all last judgments are' executed, for man is to be 
judged for the deeds done in the body. It is a recognized 
doctrine that the New Testament predicts another general 
judgment. This, like the judgment which occurred when 
the Lord was on earth, was to take place in the spiritual 
world ; but something must be said in regard to that 
world, that one not versed in the new revelation may un- 
derstand the subject. 

Swedenborg found the . inhabitants of the spiritual 
world divided into three grand divisions, which he de- 
nominates the world of spirits, heaven and hell. The 
ruling love of every individual here governs his destiny 
hereafter; and as most individuals when they leave this 
world are neither angels nor devils, but are in preparation 
for one or the other of these states of life (as all angels 
and devils are from the human race), it follows that they 
cannot at once enter either heaven or hell. Therefore 
they tarry in the world of spirits, which is an intermediate 
state, until the good are cleansed from all false doctrines, 
ideas, and thoughts, and purified from all evil inclinations, 
when they are received into heaven. The evil confirm 
themselves more and more fully in their false views and 
evils, until they have put away even the semblance of 
genuine truths and heavenly desires, when they go volun- 
tarily or from choice among their like in hell, for they 
cannot be happy in heaven. All the inhabitants of 
heaven, he found, acknowledge and worship our Lord 
Jesus Christ as the one only God and Saviour, and are 
actuated by love to the Lord and neighbor in all their 
acts, words, and thoughts, each striving to do good to all ; 
consequently no penal laws or punishments are required, 
for every one is striving to keep the Divine command- 
ments, love to the Lord and neighbor constituting heaven. 
All in hell deny the Lord and His Word; deny that h 



232 ' CALL TO T3EE KEW JERUSALEM. 

man can act from any higher motive than selfishness, and 
are actuated in all they do, say, and think, by some selfish 
love. The supreme love of self, or of ruling over others, 
or of wealth, display, or of sensual gratification, in hell, as 
in this world, arrays man against his fellow-man, and can 
never be fully gratified ; but it must be restrained there, 
as here, by laws and punishments, or life in hell would be 
unendurable, in fact, worse than no existence. Self-love 
and supreme selfishness constitute hell, as^ love of the 
Lord and neighbor do heaven. Heaven is not a place 
into which a man can be let as a matter of favor; 
but heaven must be in us, and heavenly affections must 
rule us, before we can enter heaven, and the way to heaven 
is a life according to the Commandments. It will be seen 
that, the knowledge of the spiritual world and the life of 
men there, contained in the revelations made through 
Sweden borg, has a practical relation to the life of men 
here, and shows us as in a glass that our every-day acts, 
words, and thoughts are developing our very souls into 
the image of heaven or hell, and we are now journeying 
towards the one or the other state of life slowly but surely. 
The evil-doer shall not go unpunished, nor the honest 
and good man fail of his reward, but every one will receive 
a just reward and recompense for all the deeds done here. 
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, 
and His tender mercies are around all His creatures, as 
well in hell as in this world and heaven ; but He compels 
no one here to love Him and his neighbor supremely; 
and He cannot do it hereafter, without destroying the 
manhood of man, and this He never does. 

Previous to the Lord's first coming, and between that 
and His second coming, Sweden borg informs us, those 
who left this world unprepared for either heaven or hell, 
remained, in the world of spirits, or the intermediate state, 
and formed vast societies there, or imaginary heavens ; 
and, as the world of spirits is immediately associated with 
man, in the course- of time influx from them into the 



•THE GHUK€H OF TSB FUTURE.- 233 

minds of men began seriously to endanger man's spiritual 
freedom. 

It was in this intermediate world that Babylon the 
Great was gradually developed. Those whose externals 
appeared holy, whilst their internals were profane, who 
transferred the merit and righteousness of the Lord, and 
attributed Divine things to themselves, dwelt there. 
There, in that great city, self-love, and love of rule and 
dominion from self-love, were predominant, and held 
dominion over and imprisoned the simple good, in that 
world, as well as their votaries have done in this world; 
destroying their freedom and rationality, until their cry 
went up :■" How long, Lord, holy and true, dost thou 
not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the 
earth?" 

Then, in the fullness of time, the Lord came for judg- 
ment, and now Babylon the Great has fallen — fallen to 
rise no more forever. The freedom of man in spiritual 
things was endangered in this world by the selfish love of 
rule in his fellow-man, and the Lord has interposed for his 
rescue. 

" Emanuel Swedenborg, servant of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, happened to be the man endowed and commis- 
sioned to- observe and report it; not by his own seeking, 
but by Providential allotment; not on account of any 
superior innate merit existing in him, but simply for the 
sake of the truth, and the consequent well-being of all 
Christian men* To a single seer was given the wonderful 
vision which, 'by signs' sent from Jesus Christ, prefigured 
and described all these extraordinary things 1600 years in 
advance ; and so 'to.- another single seer was it given to be- 
hold their fulfilment; looking through the 'veil' while 
they were going on, that he might note them, record 
them, and publish them, -as an epistle ' to the. church es. ? 
He was in a state of the spirit, and, like John, enjoyed an 
open or- sensible communion with the beings of the other 
w ; orld."— Light on Last TJiings_. ._..... -- .: ;._.. „_. j 



£34 GALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

Swedenborg assures us that he witnessed this judgment 
in the spiritual world. That it was commenced and fully 
ended during the year 1757; and that hereafter, all men 
are judged as they leave this world. He wrote a small 
work entitled, "The Last Judgment," in which he care- 
fully described that judgment as it was executed on the 
various Christian societies and heathen nations in the 
world of spirits. Those who were interiorly good, were 
separated from those who were interiorly evil; the former 
class were removed to heaven, the latter to hell. And thus 
was the world of spirits renovated, and the dense clouds of 
evil spirits, which threatened the freedom and very exist- 
ence of maukind by interrupting the inflowing of truth 
and love from the Lord and the angels, were removed. 

The reader may inquire, how were these two classes of 
spirits separated, and why were they not permitted to 
dwell together as good and evil men do in this world, and 
as they had been previously doing in the world of spirits ? 
The truth judges. When the Lord came for judgment 
and there was a new inflowing of truth into the minds of 
the inhabitants of the world of spirits, unveiling the 
hypocrisies, the pretenses, and the shams, so that the 
real intentions and motives were apparent to every one, 
we can very readily see how and why they separated. 
The hidden things, the lust for dominion over his fellow, 
for selfish gratification, the envying, jealousies, and real 
hatreds were proclaimed upon the housetop. In such 
an unveiling of man's interior life, it is evident that like 
will turn to the society of like, for they can find no other 
congenial associates. We know that even in this world 
similarity of tastes, habits, pursuits, and character draw 
people together. 

The Kev. Chauncey Giles, in his very interesting work, 
entitled "The Nature of Spirit and Man as a Spiritual 
Being," says : 

"The doctrines of the New Jerusalem simply carry out 
this universal principle to its legitimate conclusions. They 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 235 

have the logic of the Divine order, as it is embodied in the 
creation and in the hearts and minds of men. It is a con- 
clusion also which every good and every wicked man must 
desire, if he understands his own nature. A wicked man 
cannot be happy in the presence of the good. Heaven 
would be a perfect hell to him. What delight could a 
supremely worldly and selfish man find in loving the Lord 
and the neighbor? in doing good to others? What 
pleasure could the impure find in purity? the proud in 
humility ? the ambitious and tyrannical in serving others ? 
Their whole nature must be reversed before they could find 
any delight in these heavenly virtues. What we inmostly 
and really love is what we call good. It is and ever must 
be the measure of our good, and must determine its quality. 
We can no more escape from it than we can escape from 
the laws of gravitation. Men desire to escape hell because 
it is a place of torment; and to go to heaven because they 
think it is a place of happiness. But they forget that 
what is happiness to one is torment to another. They 
forget that freedom from punishment is not happiness. 
If every law was abolished in the land, and every peniten- 
tiary leveled with the ground, it would have no effect in 
making wicked men delight in what is good. They would 
rejoice, no doubt, that they could freely indulge in their 
wicked desires. But these would soon react upon them in 
some form of punishment, and in the end they would gain 
no happiness by it. No. If those heavenly principles, 
which constitute the kingdom of God, are not formed 
within us — if we have not made them our own, by actual 
life — we can never taste a heavenly joy. We pronounce 
judgment upon ourselves, in the spiritual world, in the 
same way we do in *this world. The wicked man seeks 
hell there as he does here, because he is drawn to it by his 
infernal delights — the only delights he is capable of enjoy- 
ing ; and he is drawn to it by the current of his desires, as 
a vessel is drawn to the ocean by the current of a stream/' 
But the reader, unacquainted with the revelations made 



236 C4LL TQ THE , KEW , JERIISALEH, 

by Swedenborg, may reasonably inquire: "If such a won- 
derful event as the long-expected Last Judgment took 
place in the world of departed spirits more than a century 
ago, what signs have we of it, for it would certainly seem 
time that some results or effects of such a great change 
should, be seen in this world ? " 

In reply to the above we will first call the attention of 
the reader to the changes in the state of mankind on 
earth, which Swedenborg and the angels anticipated at 
the time, or soon after the Judgment, would and must 
follow; then the reader will be able to judge whether 
those anticipations are being realized or not. Swedenborg 
says : 

"The great change which has been effected in the 
spiritual world, does not induce any change in the natural 
world as regards the outward form ; so that the affairs of 
states — peace, treaties and wars, with all other things be- 
longing to civil communities, in general and in particular — 
will exist in the future as they have existed in the past. * * * 
But with respect to the state of the church, this will be 
dissimilar hereafter. It will be similar, indeed, in the out- 
ward form, but dissimilar in the inward. To outward 
appearance divided churches will exist, and their doctrines 
will be taught, as heretofore ; and the same religions will 
exist among the Gentiles as at present. But henceforth 
the man of the church (that is, the men of Christendom 
generally) will be in a more free state of thinking on mat- 
ters of faith, that is, on spiritual things which relate to 
heaven, because spiritual liberty has been restored to 
him. * * * 

" I have often conversed with the angels respecting the 
state of the church hereafter. They said they did not 
know the things that were to come, since such knowledge 
belongs to the Lord alone ; but that they did know that 
the slavery and captivity in which the man of the church 
was formerly, is removed ; and that: now, from, restored 
liberty, he can better perceive interior truths if he wishes 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 237 

to perceive them, and thus be made more internal if he 
desires it"— L. J. n. 73, 74. 

"The state of the world and the church before the last 
judgment was as evening and night; but after it,. as morn- 
ing and day."— "For since communication with heaven 
has been restored by the last judgment, man is able to be 
enlightened and reformed; that is, to understand the 
divine truth of the Word, to receive it when understood, 
and to retain it when received ; for the interposing obsta- 
cles are removed."— Contin. L. J. n. 12. 

Again he says: 

" After the last judgment was accomplished there was 
light in the world of spirits, because the infernal societies 
which were removed [by that judgment], had been inter- 
posed like clouds which darken the earth. A similar light 
also then arose in men in the world, giving them new 
enlightenment."—/^/., n. 30. 

How wonderfully the above expectations have been and 
are being realized in the recent history of the world! 
Physical slavery has been largely abolished, and ere long, 
it is manifest, it will only be known in history. Ecclesias- 
tical despotism is rapidly passing from the face of the 
earth. We have seen the most formidable manifestation 
of this power which the world has ever witnessed, stripped 
of its civil power in our day, and its ability to persecute 
and oppress in a great measure destroyed. Take courage, 
ye lovers of freedom, for God wills the overthrow of both 
civil and religious despotism and slavery. He has over- 
thrown their central power in the spiritual world, and 
they cannot long retain an existence in this world. What 
can the puny arm of man do to prevent this great and 
wonderful change, which is so rapidly progressing in our 
day. Fear not; God is mightier than either civil or 
ecclesiastical despots, and physical and mental slavery are 
never to be re-established, but men are to be free, in the 
church of the future— the New Jerusalem— and are to 
claim their freedom, especially in matters of religion ; for 



238 CALL TO THE NEW JESUS ALEM; 

without religious freedom there can be no progress. Every 
man should insist on the right of private judgment in, 
religious matters, as a right too sacred to be surrendered. 
Swedenborg says : 

"The dogma that the understanding is to be held in 
subjection to faith, is rejected in the New Church ; and 
in its place this is to be received as a maxim, that the 
truth of the church should be seen in order that it may be 
understood; and truth cannot be seen otherwise than 
rationally. How can any man be led by the Lord and 
conjoined to heaven, who shuts his understanding against 
such things as relate to salvation and eternal life ? Is it 
not the understanding that is to be illumed and instructed ? 
And what is the understanding closed by religion but 
thick darkness, and such darkness, too, as rejects the light 
that would illumine? "— A. R. 564. 

"The understanding truly human, when it is separate 
from what is material, sees truths as clearly as the eye sees 
objects. It sees truths as it loves them; for as it loves 
them it is enlightened. The angels have wisdom in con- 
sequence of seeing truths; therefore when it is said to any 
angel that this or that is to be believed although it is not 
understood, the angel replies, Do you think that I am in- 
sane, or that you yourself are a god whom I am bound to 
believe.? »—Ap. Ex. 1100. 

" Since the Lord desires that everything which comes 
from Himself to man should be appropriated as man's 
own (for otherwise there would be no conjunction of man 
with the Lord), therefore it is a law of the Divine Provi- 
dence that a man's understanding and will should not be 
at all compelled by another." — Ap. Ex. 1150. 

Thus the New Jerusalem is as free, as we shall presently 
see, as it is catholic. It encourages the largest liberty of 
thought, the utmost freedom of religious inquiry. It 
would have us acknowledge no master but the Lord Jesus 
Christ as He reveals Himself to our individual conscious- 
ness, as we search the Scriptures in the light of this new 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 239 

day. Its language is, " Every one should be led in freedom 
according to reason." 

In his work on the " Divine Providence," " Swedenborg 
declares more emphatically than any other writer has ever 
done, that freedom and rationality are the distinguishing 
feature between man and beast, and that in these two 
faculties, the very human principle consists." — Rev. R. L. 
Tafel 

It is not simply in the restoration of human freedom 
that the consequences of the Last Judgment, and of the 
Lord's Second Coming, are alone to be seen; for as a 
recent writer truly says : " Results such as no human fore- 
sight could have ventured to predict are around us on 
every side in a profusion which baffles every effort of array 
or description. Science, art, thought, in every direction, 
has been stimulated by the new impulses thence commu- 
nicated. Society wears a new aspect; we live in a new 
world. Never has there been so full and so ample a con- 
firmation of any man's saying as that which has followed 
Swedenborg's declaration that in his time a new age and 
new dispensation were commencing, which would prove 
to be the culminating, crowning day and dispensation of 
the world's history. Were we to maintain that the one 
hundred and twenty years since has done more for the 
cause of human improvement than the whole five thousand 
years that went before, it would be a difficult matter to 
gainsay the assertion. That this short period has done 
more in this direction than any previous one thousand 
years that have gone before, no one will be inclined to 
doubt. In other words, the very first century of the 
Lord's second advent has done more to elevate and redeem 
mankind than any ten centuries of His first advent were 
able to accomplish." — Light on Last Things. 

Swedenborg says : " In the spiritual world to which 
every man goes after death, it is not the character of your 
faith into which inquiry is made, nor of your doctrine, but 
of your life; whether it has beemof this- character or that y 



240 CALL TO THE NEW JEKUSALEM. 

for it is known that such as a man's life is, such is his 
faith — nay, more, such is his doctrine ; for life forms its 
doctrine and faith for itself." — D. P. 101. " For the good 
of life according to one's religion contains within it the 
affection of knowing truths, which such persons also 
learn and receive when they come into the other life."— 
A. G. 455. 

" Evils which belong to the will, are what condemn a 
man and sink him down to hell ; and falsities only so far 
as they become conjoined with evils; then one follows the 
other. This is proved by numerous instances of persons 
who are in falsities, and yet are saved." — Ibid. 845. 

" There are two things to be remembered. First, that a 
person may love God and his neighbor, and yet believe 
some things that are false. Under such circumstances, 
untruth does not hurt him. False doctrine is, indeed, a 
deadly thing; but all deadly things do not hurt; for our 
Saviour says of his true disciples, If they drink any deadly 
tiling, it shall not hurt them. Secondly, a person may have 
no love of God, and yet maintain true doctrine. In this 
case he is, nevertheless, not a true disciple of Christ. The 
first has within him the essence of a true church, but not 
the perfect doctrinal form ; the second has the doctrinal 
form, but not the real essence. A church composed of 
individuals such as the latter, would nevertheless not be 
a church ; there might be an outward appearance of life 
and health, but inwardly there would be nothing but death 
and corruption." 

" When love to the Lord and charity toward the neigh- 
bor, that is, the good of life, are regarded as the essentials, 
then, however many churches there be, they make one. 
This also is the case in heaven, where there are innumer- 
able societies, all distinct from each other, but still consti- 
tuting one heaven because all are principled in love to the 
Lord ajnd charity toward the neighbor. But the case is 
otherwise with churches that make faith (or belief) the 
essentia thing—imagining that if people know or think 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 241 

such and such things they will be saved, be their life what 
it may. Then several churches do not make one, nor 
indeed are they churches." 

Again Swedenborg says: "There are two things which 
conjoin the men of the church, viz : Life and doctrine. 
When life conjoins, doctrine does not separate them ; but 
if only doctrine conjoins them, as at this day is the case 
within the church, then they mutually separate,and make 
as many churches as there are doctrines : when yet doc- 
trine is for the sake of life, and life is from doctrine. If 
only doctrine conjoins, they separate themselves, as is 
evident from this, that he who is of one doctrine, con- 
demns another person, sometimes to hell ; but if life con- 
joins, doctrine does not separate, as is evident from this, 
that he who is in goodness of life, does not condemn 
another who is of another opinion, but leaves it to his 
faith and conscience, and extends this rule even to those 
who are out of the church; for he says in his heart, that 
ignorance cannot condemn any if they live in innocence 
and mutual love, as infants who also are in ignorance 
when they die."— A. C. 4468. 

Yet Swedenborg does not leave us to infer that the 
belief in false doctrines is harmless, especially if we 
strongly confirm ourselves in such views ; for it is exceed- 
ingly difficult and painful for a man, even a good man, to 
get rid of such falses either in this world or in the next. 
It is of great importance that truth should be united to 
good in this world. Swedenborg says : " Those who are in 
falses, and especially those who are in evils, are said to be 
bound and in prison; not that they are in any bonds, but 
because they are not in freedom ; those who are not in 
freedom being interiorly bound; for those who have con- 
firmed themselves in what is false, are no longer in any 
freedom of choosing and accepting the truth, and those 
who have much confirmed themselves therein, are not 
even in freedom to see it, still less to acknowledge and 
believe it, for they are in the persuasion that what is false 
11 



242 ©ALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

is true and 'what is true is false ; so powerful is this per- 
suasion, that it takes away all freedom of thinking any- 
thing else, consequently it holds the thought itself in 
bonds, and as it were in prison. This I have had much 
opportunity of being convinced of experimentally from 
those in the other life who have been in a persuasion of 
the false by confirmations in themselves; they do not at 
all admit truths, but reflect or strike them back again, 
and this with an obstinacy proportioned to the degree of 
persuasion ; especially when the false is grounded in evil, 
or when evil has persuaded them." — A. C. 5096. 

We have endeavored to give the reader a hasty glimpse 
of some of the prominent doctrines and teachings of the 
New Jerusalem; enough, we hope, to seriously call his 
attention to the writings of the Illuminated Scribe of the 
Church of the Future, Emanuel Swedenborg. 

Eev. B. F. Barrett, one of the oldest and most diligent 
of the readers of Sweden borg's writings, says : 

" Now, if I were called upon to indicate any single idea 
which was to distinguish pre-eminently that dispensation 
or church of which Swedenborg was the divinely ap- 
pointed herald — any single idea that towers conspicu- 
ously above all others in his writings, I should say it is 
the idea of religion as a personal and practical thing ; of 
religion embodying itself in good and useful deeds; of 
religion carried into all our human acts and relations, 
purifying them all, sanctifying them all, ennobling them 
all. And this idea of religion in our common every-day 
life, so eminently characteristic of the New Theology, 
is the very idea which has been steadily growing into 
favor for the last hundred years in nearly all the 
churches. 

However similar, then, in their creeds and in outward 
appearance the churches of to-day may be to those of a 
hundred years ago, it is clear that they are very different 
internally. They have different ideas and purposes, and 
are animated by a different spirit. And every year, this 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 243 

difference is increasing, and becoming more and more 
apparent. 

" And thus it is that the New Jerusalem may be seen 
4 descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of 
God/ Thus may the Lord Himself be seen coming anew 
to the churches in the spirit and power of His now un- 
sealed Word. Thus do we behold Him breaking through 
and dispersing the mists of naturalism, and gladdening 
the hearts of his sincere followers with a new manifesta- 
tion of Himself; — ' coming/ agreeably to his own predic- 
tion, 'in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory/ 
Thus may a Xew Church be seen slowly forming, not as a 
new visible institution— not as a separate and distinct 
organization, but rather as a new spirit and life entering 
into the great heart of humanity and moulding it anew; 
comparatively as the earth, on the return of each new 
spring-time, receives a fresh influx of the solar rays, and 
so becomes a new earth clad afresh with verdure and 
beauty. A church not antagonistic to existing organiza- 
tions, but cordially sympathizing with and reanimating 
them all."— Tlie Golden City. 

The late Eev. John Clowes, Rector of St. John's Church, 
Manchester, England, who for many years, without ever 
being required to sever his connection with the Church of 
England, openly and boldly taught the doctrines revealed 
through Swedenborg, and translated many of his works 
into English, says : 

"Xothi iig, therefore, can be plainer, than that the Xew 
Jerusalem Dispensation is to be universal, and to extend 
unto all people, nations, and languages on the face of the 
earth, to be a blessing unto such as are meet to receive a 
blessing. Sects and sectarians, as such, can find no place 
in this General Assembly of the ransomed of the Lord. 
All the little distinctions of modes, forms, and particular 
expressions of devotion and worship, will be swallowed up 
and lost in the unlimited effusions of heavenly love, charity 
and benevolence with which the hearts of everv member of 



244 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM:. 

this glorious New Church and Body of Jesus Christ will 
overflow one toward another. Men will no longer judge 
one another as to the mere externals of church com- 
munion, be they perfect or be they imperfect; for they 
will be taught that, whosoever acknowledges the incarnate 
Jehovah in heart and life, departing from all evil, and 
doing what is right and good according to the command- 
ments, he is a member of the New Jerusalem, a living 
stone in the Lord's new Temple, and a part of that great 
family in heaven and earth, whose common Father and 
Head is Jesus Christ. Every one, therefore, will call his 
neighbor Brother, in whom he observes this spirit of pure 
charity; and he will ask no questions concerning the form 
of words which compose his creed, but will be satisfied 
with observing in him the purity and power of a heavenly 
life." 

What a glorious prospect does this New Dispensation 
open to our race ! 

" The last great campaign of the kingdom of heaven 
upon earth is opening before us, and the inmost heart of 
Christianized humanity is beating in unison with the 
movement; while the utterances of the ancient prophets 
become the sacred watchwords of the hour, the inspired 
directions for the march, and the songs of holy joy that 
are set to the music of the camps." * * * 

"All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and 
worship before Thee, Jehovah, and shall glorify Thy 
Name." * * * 

" The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and 
the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. * * * 

" In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set 
up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed ; it shall break 
in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall 
stand forever." 

" And there shall be given him dominion and glory, and 
a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should 
serve Him ; His dominion is the dominion of an age which 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 245 

shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not 
be destroyed." * * * 

" The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, 
as the waters cover the sea." * * * 

"After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in 
their inward parts and write it in their hearts ; and I will 
be their God, and they shall be My people; they shall all 
know Me from the least unto the greatest, saith Jehovah, 
for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their 
sin no more." 

"Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a 
tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the 
stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of 
the cords thereof be broken." " Behold, the tabernacle of 
God is witb men." 

"I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming 
down from God out of heaven." 

"'Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give the glory unto 
Him,' that our lot is cast in these latter tifnes ; that we are 
permitted to live at the day in which all these things are 
beginning the march of their fulfillment, and that, in His 
merciful provision for human w T ant, the Lord has caused 
to break forth from the bosom of His Word a system 
of theology and philosophy, not man-made but heaven- 
descended, which leads — by a thousand years — the high- 
est aspirations of human thought, fitted to the age — to 
serve as a lamp to the movement; 'the glory of God. 
to lighten' us, and to instruct us aright in these great 
themes." 

" And let us, one and all, lend our hearts and our hands 
to this movement; working where we stand in aid of its 
fulfillment, and helping, as far as in us lies, to bring about 
in our time some of its blessed results." — Light on Last 
Things. 

The senders of this pamphlet desire again affectionately 
and earnestly to call your attention to the writings con- 
taining these new revelations, from our ever-blessed Lord 



246 CALL TO THE XEW JERUSALEM. 

and Saviour Jesus Christ. Three large volumes, from 
among the most important of Emanuel Swedenborg's 
writings, you will perceive by the attached circular on the 
second page of the cover, are furnished to Protestant cler- 
gymen and theological students studying for the ministry 
without money and without price, they having only to call 
and get them, or pay the postage or express charges on 
them, and request them to be sent, to receive them. That 
every clergyman and theological student studying for the 
ministry who has not already done so, will immediately 
order the above works, is the desire of those who are giving 
them, and that the Lord may open their understandings 
and hearts for the reception of the heavenly doctrines of 
the Holy City, New Jerusalem, now descending from God 
out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her hus- 
band, is the earnest prayer of every disciple of the New 
Dispensation. 

It was apparently the opinion of Swedenborg that his 
writings would be read by the clergy, who would teach 
the doctrines therein contained to their congregations, and 
thus the glorious truths lor this new era or crowning 
church, would be spread among the people ; for, in speak- 
ing of the descent of the New Church or New Jerusalem, 
from God out of Heaven, he says it can only take place 
"in proportion as the falses of the former church are 
removed, for what is new cannot gain admission where 
falses have before been implanted, unless those falses are 
first rooted out; and this must first take place among the 
clergy, and by their means among the laity." 

We thank the Lord for the abundance of evidence that 
this process is rapidly going on around us in all the 
churches, and to do what we can to hasten on this great 
and noble work, or to be humble instruments in the Lord's 
hands for aiding in its accomplishment, is our sole aim in 
sending these few words— a brotherly message — to you. 
Not as sectarians do we send them, for the New Jerusa- 
lem, as we have abundantly shown in the preceding pages, 



THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 247 

is not a sect, but a New Dispensation of divine truth for 
the benefit of all sects and all men. 

XXXIII. 

The Divine Promise to those who Receive the 
New Jerusalem at the Second Coming of the 
Lord. 

(BY REV. ¥M. B. HAYDEN.) 

" Bemember therefore, how thou hast received and heard, 
and hold fast, and repent." * * * 

" I know thy works : behold I have set before thee an 
open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little 
strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my 
name." * * * 

" Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the tem- 
ple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will 
write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the 
city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh 
down out of heaven from my God : and I will write upon 
him my new name " (Eev. iii. 3, 8, 12). 

The Lord Jesus Christ is at this day doing a remarkable 
work; in some respects one of the most remarkable He 
has ever performed. He is effecting His Second Advent, 
and is beginning to establish in the world His new and final 
church, which in His Word He calls the New Jerusalem. 

He has caused the volume of His Word to be opened 
more fully to human apprehension, the prophetic por- 
tions of the Bible being explained as to their spiritual and 
heavenly meaning; while that pure and perfect system of 
True Christian Doctrine, which the angels of heaven 
derive from the Divine Word, has been revealed for our 
use and instruction, and written out in the language of 
men by Emanuel Swedenborg, a man specially illuminated 
by the Lord for this purpose. 

T!iis wonderful system of heavenly truths He has caused 
to be printed and circulated in books, not only in Latin, 



248 CALL TO THE KEW JEEUSALE3I. 

but in nearly all the Christian tongues, so that they may 
be freely promulgated in every part of Christendom, that 
whoever will may partake of this pure river of water of 
life freely. And these heavenly truths are slowly gather- 
ing together the New Church, for they are freely offered to 
all, and all who will may receive them in obedience with 
affection, and confess them openly before and among men. 

Included in this opening and explanation, is this Book 
of Eevelation, given through John, the last great Book of 
the sacred canon ; the enigma of Christian scholars ; now, 
with its seals taken off, and all its dark sayings made 
plain, in clear, rational, heavenly light; the meaning of 
every chapter, verse, and single symbol plainly given, so 
that he who runs may read ; a feast of fat things, full of 
marrow, to the spiritually-minded seeking for heavenly 
instruction and longing to know more of the Master's will. 

The Apocalypse or Book of Eevelation is the especial 
book of this New Church, for it is the book devoted to the 
Second Coming of the Lord, predicting the particularity of 
this Advent, with all the attending circumstances, and in it 
the New Jerusalem is foretold and described. In its pages, 
therefore, now illuminated by the glory of their own heav- 
enly meaning, we have a divine commentary on the events 
by which we are surrounded, on the wonderful fulfillments 
of prophecy now taking place, and the New Age or Dispen- 
sation of Christian light now progressing in our midst. 

In these epistles which John was commanded to write 
to the seven churches then located in Asia Minor, in their 
spiritual or prophetic import, we behold all the different 
classes of believers in Christendom in our day addressed. 
Addressed, too, in earnest tones and decided terms, by our 
Lord Himself, speaking to us out of heaven. All capable 
of exercising religious affection and religious thought are 
here appealed to, being enjoined to lift up their eyes and 
to come. 

One thing particularly is noticeable in these missives 
to the churches; in each there is a call to repentance. 



THE DIVIDE PROMISE. 249 

Many other things likewise are spoken of. Each church 
has a special and pointed teaching addressed to its peculiar 
wants, but this one feature is common to them all — they 
all command repentance. This reveals a leading charac- 
teristic of the New Dispensation; which is that now there 
is to be required a closer conformity to the divine com- 
mand ments than ever before. All men are called upon to 
put on more fully the spirit of true religion. Not only 
emotional piety, but also practical obedience in daily life is 
required. Entrance into the New Jerusalem therefore im- 
plies a step forward for every one who comes, a new degree 
of religion, and advance in real holiness of life and character. 

No matter where these new heavenly truths find us, 
whether in much good or little good, whether we are 
professed Christians already, or indifferent, or unbelievers, 
the call is to all alike, to leave our present state whatever 
it is, and put on something more of pure and true religion, 
leaving the fallacies of the senses and the cupidity of the 
natural man still further behind us. New and greater 
spiritual attainment is forcibly insisted upon, and the 
way given to attain it. 

Then, after having risen up and entered this New Jeru- 
salem through interior amendment of life, each class of 
religious men finds in these seven epistles some instruc- 
tion fitted to its own state. Their own peculiar short- 
comings are pointed out, and they are clearly told how 
they may grow in grace and spiritually progress towards 
the angelic state of life. 

"Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, 
and hold fast" These words are addressed to those who 
are already in the external worship of the church, to 
nominal or professed believers in the truth. They are 
remarkable words, and of very impressive import. They 
are meant particularly for us, receivers of these heavenly 
doctrines, professed believers in this New Age and Dis- 
pensation ; and they are calculated to arouse the con- 
science and stimulate a holy zeal in the heart of every 



250 CALL TO THE is'EW JERUSALEM. 

true and earnest believer. We who have heard and 
listened to the Truth, who have heard the words of the' 
New Jerusalem, who know that the Lord has come a 
Second time, gathering His flock and setting up His final 
kingdom, are enjoined to remember how we have received 
and heard, and hold fast. The Lord would impress upon 
us the importance of holding fast to these new truths, 
proclaiming and obeying them. 

As we go away from the Sanctuary, or the Word and 
the Writings, back into our worldly employments, and 
often into our natural selfish and worldly states of thought 
and feeling, our minds become cloudy. We are apt to 
think remotely of our religious privileges. We think 
lightly of holy truth; comparatively lightly of the heav- 
enly truths now revealed, to regard slightingly our obliga- 
tions to them, our obligation to heed them, to value them, 
to uphold them, to promulgate them, to obey them, and to 
openly confess them before men. 

But from all we read in His Word, and all we know, the 
Lord Himself does not so lightly regard them. We hear 
no such indifferent or easy-going language on His part. 
-Not any Laodicean — neither cold nor hot— state finds 
favor in His eyes. On the contrary, all His words on the 
subject come forth with emphasis. Search the Bible 
through, and nowhere else will you find such strong and 
impressive language, or appealing more forcibly to the 
heart and the conscience, than this employed in the Book 
of Revelation with respect to the truths of the New Jeru- 
salem. The whole heaven is powerfully moved and 
affected by the utterances. The Lord Himself is deeply 
in earnest when He proclaims them to the angels, deeply 
in earnest when he sends them into the world to reclaim 
men and overturn the kingdom of darkness, and deeply in 
earnest, too, when He calls upon us to receive and obey them. 

And again, closely following these deeply freighted calls 
01 admonition and injunction, what blessed words of en- 
couragement and promise fall from the same lips, to the 



THE DIVIXE PROMISE. 251 

steadfast and obedient! Such as have been held out to no 
church before, such as are found nowhere else in the 
Bible. Hear them : "Behold, I have set before thee an open 
door, and no man can shut it." An " open door ! " Do we 
realize what this means ? In view of all it implies, how 
comprehensive the sense! An opening such as has never 
been vouchsafed to mankind before, such as the previous 
ages have never seen, and yet an opening promised in the 
Word, and the hope of good men in the Christian centu- 
ries of the past. 

1. " A door into heaven opened." 

The heavenly world laid open to view, and described for 
our use and instruction. Not to satisfy vain curiosity, or 
make an empty show ; but to make immortality real, and 
encourage purity of life by showing that only the really 
pure and good can enter there. Life among the angels 
considered and described, in its most general forms, as 
comprehensible by men, as involved in the teachings of 
the Holy Word, and rendered clear by a more exhaustive 
study of its pages. The blessedness of heaven brought 
near; the mutual love reigning among its inhabitants, 
their conjunction of heart and mind with the Lord our 
Eedeemer, the glorious light in which they dwell, their 
practical wisdom, their ineffable innocence and peace of 
mind, their elevating employments, doing the Lord's will 
in innumerable offices of love and good use to members of 
the heavenly kingdom, as well as to mankind on earth — 
all unfolded in clear rational light, for our quickening and 
encouragement. 

Then, the constitution of the human soul, its connec- 
tion with the body, its close association with the unseen 
world, the grounds and principles of future judgment, 
with the miserable results which persistent sin inflicts, all 
made known for our admonition and warning, to separate 
us more and more from disobedience, and attach us more 
firmly to the kingdom of the Lord; the whole involving 
such an opening of the unseen world and the future state 



252 CALL TO THE XEW JERUSALEM. 

of existence, as could scarcely be conceived of before it had 
come, though desired and waited for by spiritual men in 
all ages of the church. 

And this door never again to be shut : this elevating 
knowledge of the heavenly world and its order, recorded in 
printed books, never again to disappear from the thought 
and memory of man. 

2. The Great Book opened. The seven seals taken off 
from the Bible, its heavenly interpretation written out; 
wherein all its divine prophecies find their true and final 
exposition ; its obscure passages cleared up, its dark say- 
ings brought forth in light, the clouds of its letter every- 
where illuminated with the heavenly glory of their spirit- 
ual meaning, and all its pages shown to testify concerning 
the Lord Jesus Christ. The real nature of the Divine 
Word explained, showing that as to its deeper, inner 
ground, it is the very Divine Truth itself. The difference 
between Letter and Spirit made clear, and how the spirit- 
ual sense, like a soul, dwells everywhere within the Letter, 
which is the body ; and thus the real nature of Divine in- 
spiration exposed, from its inmost ground. As the Lord, 
with His constant presence, dwells in the Word, in its in- 
terior meaning and essence, and the angels are also present 
in its spiritual sense, bringing with them a heavenly 
sphere of mental light and heat, the Divine Word becomes 
the medium among men of the Presence of the Lord and 
His Holy Spirit, and a medium of communication with 
heaven through which animating floods of illustration and 
warmth may flow into the heart and mind of the believer 
and reverent, faithful student And this Holy Word, thus 
opened, never again to be closed up, but to remain forever 
as an open door to heavenly and eternal things. 

3. Then, again, our Lord and Saviour declares Himself 
to be the Door; a door in the Supreme sense; the living 
door ; the great avenue or medium of access to Supreme, 
unapproachable Divinity. And how this Door is opened 
to us in these new heavenly or angelic Doctrines ! In 



THE DIVIXE PROMISE. 2o3 

which the one eternal Saviour and Eedeemer, onr Lord 
Jesus Christ, reveals Himself to us at length in all the 
fullness of His ineffable glory, as the One supreme and 
only object of our love and worship. Declaring to us from 
the very letter of His Word that He is indeed Jehovah 
Himself, not three persons, not the second among three, 
but the Only One ; dwelling by Himself from all eternity, 
and then in the fullness of time condescending and coming 
down to seek and to save that which was lost, assuming- 
humanity for our sakes and appearing in the world as 
Emmanuel, God with us. Thus walking our earth, not as 
a consecrated and holy man merely, but the Lord Himself, 
clad in the outward garments of a man. Glorifying, by 
His indwelling Divinity, all the originally frail elements 
derived from the virgin mother, putting them off, perfect- 
ing their nature by filling all their forms with pure divine 
substances, thus making even His human part perfectly 
divine in essence, organizing all its substance anew, so 
that at length the fullness of the whole Godhead dwelt 
bodily in that Human Form, without confining or con- 
tracting its infinity. In this Glorified Form He arose, 
and ascended into heaven, where He forever abides, seated 
on the Throne of the Universe, including in His own 
single Person all that is meant by Father, all that is meant 
by Son, and all that is meant by Holy Spirit: the three in 
One Person. His own supreme, eternal, unapproachable 
Divinity being called Father; the Humanity which He 
assumed in order to appear in the world, and which while 
in the world He glorified and made Divine, being called 
the Son ; and that new powerful and personal presence 
and influence which since the Incarnation He vouchsafes 
to faithful, obedient believers, being called the Comforter, 
Paraclete, Advocate, or Holy Spirit. Summing for us in 
this last book of the Sacred Canon the final dcctrine con- 
cerning Himself in these memorable words: "I am the 
Alpha and the Omega; the Beginning and the End; the 
First and the Last ; the one who is and who was and who 



254 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

is to come, the Almighty." And again in these, at the- 
very close of the volume : " I, Jesus, have sent Mine angel 
unto you to testify these things in the churches." Declaring 
also that He is both the Root and the Offspring of David. 

Thus showing that the great object of the Biblical 
Revelation, in its progressive development from end to 
end, is to bring out by degrees as they have been able to 
bear it, and at length make clear to the spiritual appre- 
hension of the church, the great vital Supreme Truth that 
God is One Person, one single Person, and that our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ is this One God. 

Thus fulfilling at last, and in our day, that glorious 
prediction and promise of the Apostle that the time would 
come when the Saviour would vacate that subordinate, 
mediatorial position, which to the partially-instructed 
intelligence of that day He seemed to hold, and that God 
would be seen to be One, the " all in all." 

And this Door; this heavenly, angelic Doctrine con- 
cerning our Saviour as the One Only Lord and God- 
never to . be closed up or lost sight of. Now that it is 
revealed, and clearly made known to the thought and 
rational intelligence of men, it is henceforth the property 
of the church universal forevermore. No human power 
can prevail against it. It solves the great problem of the 
Godhead ; and no human power can ever drive it back or 
push it out of the world. It is the corner-stone, the stone 
of power, which the prophet Daniel in holy vision saw cut 
out of the Rock without hands, which became a great 
mountain and filled the whole earth. 

4 The Way of Life opened. In these heavenly Doc- 
trines the way and means of salvation are most distinctly 
set forth. The true ideas of justification and imputation 
are unfolded. And a life according to the Divine Com- 
mandments of the Holy Word, clearly shown to be the 
only true ground of hope and the only means of salvation. 
Faith is commanded, Charity or Love is commanded, 
Good Works are commanded. All are required; and 



THE DIVINE PROMISE. 255 

neither one is to be emphasized to the disparagement of 
the others. Without the acknowledgment of the Lord 
and Saviour there is no salvation, for no man of himself 
can attain- the holy life, and regeneration and the gift of 
the Holy Spirit are from the Lord alone. 

Those who, from the acknowledgment of a Divine 
Being, are in the good of life, who through ignorance do 
not acknowledge the Lord in His Divine Humanity in 
this world, will in the next, before they can enter the king- 
dom of heaven. The ground of forgiveness is the Divine 
Goodness, Clemency, or Mercy, while the simple condition 
on man's part is Repentance and actual departure from 
evil. Salvation is a thing of degrees; the further we are 
lifted out of Sin the more are we saved, while the merit or 
righteousness of Christ is imputed to the believer just as 
fast, and to the degree, that he actually appropriates that 
righteousness — in his own character, putting on the image 
and exemplifying the spirit of Christ in his own life. 

The way of salvation therefore is growth in holiness, 
which is measured exactly by our ceasing from sinful acts 
and affections, and our practical conformity to gospel pre- 
cept. "He that hath my commandments and doeth them, 
he it is that loveth me." And hence the great blessing pro- 
nounced in the New Jerusalem is, u Blessed are they that do 
His commandments, that they may have right to the Tree 
of Life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." 

And in these doctrines all questions are answered which 
Christians desire to ask, most lucid and extended expo- 
sitions being given of all the vital doctrines of grace and 
life; Repentance, Regeneration, Charity, Faith, Good 
Works and the Holy Spirit; so that no one is any longer 
left in the dark, or in obscurity, or doubt with respect to 
any vital or practical point of religious experience. 

And this door, opening thus into the onward and up- 
ward way to heaven, never again to be obscured by day, 
nor shadowed by the night. These heavenly disclosures 
concerning the secrets of the regenerate or holy life never 



256 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

again to be taken away from the knowledge of men, but 
through the divinely provided instrumentalities of the 
printing-press and the pulpit, to be widely circulated and 
diffused for the free use of all. 

5. And then, the Two Holy Sacraments which the Lord 
has given for the safety and nurture of His Church, 
opened and explained. Their ineffable, heavenly uses 
made clear: their inner meaning brought out: the divine 
symbolism of their forms and elements declared, and in 
what manner they connect with the unseen world, and, 
when worthily celebrated, bring down invisible blessings 
thence to the hearts and minds of the recipients and par- 
takers. What way they are helps, and why they are 
calculated to ward off evil and feed and strengthen man's 
spiritual part, clearly and rationally shown. Wherein it 
is seen by the Christian reason that they are indeed truly 
Divine ordinances, channels of grace and blessing, having 
a permanent and living connection with the Lord and the 
heavenly world. 

And lastly, what a reward to obedience is held out! 
Enough to beget and inspire effort and diligence to learn 
and know these heavenly truths, and then with God's help 
to insure our steadfast faithfulness and perseverance unto 
the end. No church before has had such promises, no 
church before has had such helps placed within its reach, 
no church before has had given it such lofty assurance of 
hope. These words alone are worthy of mere space than 
can be spared for this whole section, and yet their own 
divine simplicity far outweigh anything that could be 
added by human language. 

" Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the tem- 
ple of my God, and he shall go no more out : and I will 
write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the 
city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh 
down out of heaven from my Gcd : and I will write liim 
my new name." " He that hath an ear, let him hear what 
the Spirit saith unto the churches." 



EMANUEL SWEDEKBOEG, THE SEEE. 257 

XXXIY. 

Emanuel Swedenborg, the Seer. 

" T I ^HIS eminent servant of the Lord Jesus Christ was 
, JL born at Stockholm, on the 29th of January, 1G88, 
and departed this life on the 29th of March, 1772, in the 
85th year of his age. 

"He was the son of Jasper Swedborg, Bishop of Skarra, in 
Sweden, and was educated in the most pious and affection- 
ate manner. He says of himself, that he was delighted, 
when a child, to hear his father and friends speak of God, 
faith, and salvation ; and his father says of him, that such 
were the pious and remarkable sayings of his son Emanuel, 
that they often thought angels spoke by his mouth. He 
was educated, and highly distinguished himself, at the 
University of Upsal, and was so much remarked for his 
extraordinary mathematical attainments that, in 1716, at 
the age of 28, he was offered the choice of a professorship, 
or the office of assessor, or superintendent extraordinary, 
of the Board of Mines, by the King of Sweden, Charles 
the Twelfth. He chose the latter, and, during the thirty- 
one years which he spent in that office, combined with his 
travels in every country of Europe, he acquired such a 
fund of learning as astonished and delighted all who 
admired and promoted philosophic study; and he was 
made a member of almost all the learned societies in 
Europe. During this period he produced seven works on 
various scientific subjects, and, at length, his great work 
"in three volumes, folio, entitled ' Opera Philosophical all 
written in Latin. He subsequently composed four other 
works, 'The Prodromus,' 'The Economy of the Animal 
Kingdom,' 'The Animal Kingdom/ and 'On the Worship 
and Love of God.' In these works he forestalled many of 
the sublimest and grandest discoveries which have since 
immortalized the names of several of our greatest men. 
He anticipated Dalton in- the atomic theory, Wollastoa 



258 CALL TO THE STEW JERUSALEM. - 

in crystallography, Monro in the anatomy of the brain, 
Wilson in the character and vitality of the globules of the 
blood, and Gauss, Hansteen, Sabine, Humboldt, and others 
in the magnetic theory of the universe. He was the dis- 
coverer of the following sublime facts and doctrines : 

"1. The precise situation of our sun, with its planetary 
system, in the starry universe to which it belongs. 2. The 
progressive advancement along the Milky Way, from west 
to east, of our sun with his spheres, and all the starry host 
of the visible heavens. 

"After having exhibited this wonderful excellence in 
natural knowledge, and holding a very high position in 
the very first ranks of philosophy, in 1743, when he was 
in his fifty-fifth year, his mind became gradually opened 
to perceive the objects of the spiritual world ; and during 
two years this state of development was going on, until it 
was completed in 1745, when the Lord himself appeared 
to him, and commissioned him to make known the science 
of correspondences, which explains the spiritual sense of 
His Word, and which he oould fully perceive verified in 
heaven. He learned, also, the laws of the eternal world, 
and the true doctrines of the Word for the New Jerusa- 
lem. That such a state is possible, all the cases of those 
whose visions are recorded in the Bible prove. This state, 
which was that of a Seer, was continued during the rest of 
his life, that is, nearly thirty years. He had the constant 
privilege of seeing the inner, or spiritual world, as well as 
the outer, or natural world. He wrote, during this period,; 
works in explanation of the spiritual sense of the Word of 
God, equal to twenty volumes; unfolding, sentence by 
sentence, the whole of Genesis, Exodus, and the book of 
Revelation, and introducing and explaining so many 
passages from the rest of the Bible, as to open to the 
devout and spiritually-minded reader the interior sense of 
the whole Divine Word. 

. " He wrote, also his 'Treatise on Heaven, Hell, and the 
World .of Spirits;^ and: in several of \m_ otbejc /workg he 



EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, THE SEER. 259 

describes his experience derived from his acquaintance 
with the spirit life, giving a rational and harmonious 
account of it, and of the constitution and life of the 
human soul. Besides these, he composed works on Chris- 
tian Doctrine, from the Four leading Doctrines — of the 
Lord, the Sacred Scripture, Faith, and Life — for the New 
Jerusalem, to his last work, 'The True Christian Re- 
ligion. 3 These relieve the doctrines of Christianity from 
those oppositions to reason, which, hatched in the dark 
ages, have rendered religion, which should be the light 
and the hope of the soul, perplexing to all, and impossible 
to be embraced by millions of well-disposed thinking men. 

"Few, who know anything of his pure, truthful, pious 
life — of his system, which is entirely an embodiment of 
truth and love — and of his calm declaration on his death- 
bed, will imagine he was an impostor. His life, through 
his long career, is declared by a host of witnesses — by all, 
in fact, who have testified to their knowledge of him— to 
have been what Sandel, the nobleman who made the 
oration in his praise after his death in the Swedish House 
of Nobles, Oct. 7, 1772, said: 'Never did he allow himself 
to have recourse to dissimulation. He was the sincere 
friend of mankind; and in his examination of the char- 
acter of others, he was desirous to discover in them this 
virtue, which he regarded as an infallible proof of the 
presence of many more. He was cheerful and agreeable 
in society. He enjoyed the most excellent health, having 
scarcely ever experienced the slightest indisposition. Con- 
tent within himself and with his situation, his life was, in 
all respects, one of the happiest that ever fell to the lot 
of man, till the very moment of its close.' 

" The clergyman who attended Swedenborg during his 
last illness, the Rev.- Mr. Ferelius, after having asked 
whether he thought he should die, and been answered by 
Swedenborg that he should, made a very solemn appeal to 
him to say if his writings were entirely true. Swedenborg 
raised himself in his bed, and placing his hand on his 



260 CALL TO THE NEW JERUSALEM. 

breast, said, with great zeal and emphasis, 'As true as you 
see me before you, so true is everything I have written ; 
and I could have said more had I been permitted. When 
you come into eternity, you will see all things as I have 
stated and described them, and we shall have much to 
discourse about them with each other/ He then took the 
Holy Supper, and presented the clergyman with a copy of 
his < Arcana Ccelestia.' This is not the life and death of 
a deceiver. His works, though so numerous, are con- 
sistent and harmonious throughout. His system is a 
grand whole— every principle having its place, and the 
whole being complete, magnificent, and beautiful, beyond 
anything the world can elsewhere show. It is, at the same 
time, fully scriptural, and always in harmony with science; 
and, above all, the universe is seen to have been created', 
and to be sustained, by the infinite love, wisdom, and 
power of the Divine Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who 
from eternity was the Father, in time for man's redemp- 
tion became the Son, and whose spirit is the Holy Spirit. 
This system gives a complete and rational account of the 
laws, life, and scenery of heaven— the land of the blessed ; 
answering all our inquiries respecting our child/en, our 
departed friends, and the merciful arrangements vf Divine 
Providence for their resurrection. It affords a plain and 
rational account also of hell, and shows it to be the result 
of unjust and unholy principles wrought oiu to their 
extremes of sin, folly, and misery. It informs us also of 
the intermediate state— not purgatory, but the world of 
spirits, the land of judgment; the world, too, where the 
mistakes of ignorance and of false doctrines in religion 
are corrected ; so that our blessed Lord may, out of tho 
good of all religions, form one fold, with one Shepherd— 
a grand spiritual house with many mansions.'* 



The List of Books on this page and the following page of the 
cover, will be sent on receipt of price, postage prepaid, by E. H. 
Swtnney, No. 20 Cooper Union, New York City. 

For new readers it is suggested to select from among Sweden- 
borg's own works one or more of the following, viz. : 

Heaven and Its Wonders ; The World of Spirits and 

Hell. From things seen and heard therein $1 25 

The Divine Providence 1 25 

The True Christian Religion 2 50 

The Apocalypse Revealed, 2 vols 3 00 

Conjugal Lrove 1 25 

Divine Love and Wisdom 1 OO 

After the reading of the above, the student of these writings will 
be measurably prepared for 

The Arcana Ccelestia, 10 vols., price per volume... $1 50 
(The entire work may be procured at one time for $15.) 

This work is an exposition of the spiritual sense of Genesis and 
Exodus, and incidentally of portions of the Prophets and Psalms, 
as well as other portions of the Word. 

The first volume is an exposition of the first eleven chapters of 
Genesis. 

The Four Leading* Doctrines $1 00 

This work embraces the 

Doctrine of the Lord, 
Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, 
The Doctrine of Faith, 
The Doctrine of Life. 

The Earths in the Universe (Limp) $ 60 

The Last Judgment (Cloth) 75 

Miscellaneous Theological Works 1 50 

A Compendium of Swedenborg's Theological 
Writings 3 50 

This work is a systematic and orderly epitome of all his religious 
works, selected from more than thirty volumes and embracing all 
his fundamental principles, with copious illustrations and teachings. 



The following works are popular presentations of important sub- 
jects by various New Church writers in the light of the Philosophy 
and Theology of Swedenborg, and are recommended as introductory 
to the study of Swedenborg's works, and are termed Collateral works. 
Either of them will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, on receipt of 
the price, by E. H. Swinney, No. 20 Cooper Union, New York City. 

The Nature of Spirit and of Man as a Spiritual 
Being*. By Rev. C. Giles. Price $1 25 

The Incarnation, Atonement and Mediation of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. By Rev. Chauncey Giles. Price 75 

Light on the Last Things. By Rev. W. B. Hayden (cloth, 
bevelled, 12mo, tinted paper, gilt side stamp, 193 pp.). Price 1 25 

A Statement of Reasons for Embracing the Doc- 
trines and Disclosures of Swedenborg. By Prof. 
Geo. Bush 25 

An Appeal in behalf of the Views of the Eternal 
World and State, and the Doctrines of Faith and 
Life held by the Body of Christians who Believe 
that a New Church is Signified (in the Revelation, ch. 
xxi.) by the New Jerusalem ; embracing answers to all prin- 
cipal objections. 8vo cloth, 508 pp. By Rev. Sam'l Noble. 1 50 

Lectures on the New Dispensation (12mo, cloth). By 
Rev. B. F. Barrett 1 25 

The Holy Word in Its own Defence (12mo, cloth). By 

Rev. Abiel Silver. Price 1 38 

Outlines of the Religion and Philosophy of Sweden- 
borg. By Prof. Theophilus Parsons 1 25 

Our Children in Heaven. By Wm. H. Holcombe, M.D. 1 75 

White's Life of Swedenborg 1 50 

The Divine Word Opened. By Rev. J. Bayley 3 50 

A Series of Sermons showing the application of the Science of 
Correspondences to all parts of the Word. 

Dictionary of Correspondences, Representatives 
and Significatives derived from the Word of God. 

(One vol., 8vo, cloth) 2 00 

The Two Great Books of Nature and Revelation ; or, 
the Cosmos and the Logos. By Rev. Geo. Field. 2 00 

The Avoidable Causes of Disease, including Mar- 
riage and Its Violations. By John Ellis, M.D. . . . 2 OO 



